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I'm going on the third time changing the Christmas color theme on the outside of the house this year. I know this third time it will be perfect, as i've thought about this last theme all night in my mind and am unable to sleep!
The only area I tend to be a little OCD in are books. If I start a book, I have trouble not finishing it, no matter how awful I think it is. I've finally had some success telling myself that if I die soon, is this the last book I ever want to have read?
OK, I am what I'd call borderline OCD. What I mean by that is that the OCD tendencies do not USUALLY control my life, but if I get very stressed out, I become OC enough to be disruptive - it's my way of trying to feel like I'm in control.
Wow, sounds like my daughter. We noticed OCD and hoarding tendencies at a young age and therapy helped her a lot, but when she gets stressed she falls back on some of her rituals. Her habits used to include counting telephone poles, stacking any loose change, saving burnt out light bulbs and dead batteries, not stepping on cracks, and heaven forbid someone 'borrow' one of her books and crease the spine or bend a page, she will 'have to' replace the entire book.
I agree with a PP on this thread that everyone has some sort of obsessive compulsiveness. What makes it a disorder is if that person cannot function without "fixing" what they perceive as wrong.
I don't like tangled phone cords. I will untangle them if I'm near them. I can deal with not untangling them, but I will if nothing else is taking my attention and I have time to do it. I also don't like crooked pictures on the wall. I'll straighten them as does my husband. I decorated my wall with random pictures, and none of them are aligned. They are not crooked, but they are placed randomly. I did that on purpose and I like that disorder of pictures. I just don't want them hanging crooked off their hooks. I don't mind mess. I don't like things moved or changed without my knowledge or advanced warning. Maybe that's more control than obsessive, but isn't control part of it? If I'm going to clean, I have to do it my way. It's hard to share cleaning duties with other people. My husband is the same way. He also tends to panic way before I do if family or guests are expected at the house. We get in each other's way. So, we'll decide who cleans where and try to stick to those areas. I'll be in charge of rooms 1, 2, and 3, and he'll be in charge of rooms 4, 5, and 6. You get the idea. I also have an issue in the car. I get in the car and immediately put on my seatbelt and start the car and am ready to leave. My husband will get in to the car and take his time getting ready. That drives me crazy! Time is an issue with me. I don't like being late. I'll panic if I am late. I've learned to accept that my husband's body works at a different speed than mine, so I panic less, but I still have a hard time with it. We don't fight much about anymore. It's just a matter of compromising on each other's needs.
I don't know if all of these are an example of my OCD-like issues, but I know I have been asked if I have it. I really have little to no trouble making it through the day not letting any of these daily issues stop me from functioning. They may bother me, but I can swallow up these problems and not let anyone know they bother me and walk out the door with nothing going my way.
On a more serious note, my father, two brothers and three nephews have, had OCD. I'm sure many other family members have had to deal with this, but just don't talk about it. I have OCD, but it wasn't always negative. I ran a ship shape house. Everything had a place and everything was in its place.
The one thing which always bothered me, and I don't do it nearly as often as I used to, rarely now, is count things. I couldn't walk into an area and not count stair rungs or flowers in a vase or anything else.
The flip side of that is extreme chaos and sloppiness. Sometimes this happens when people with OCD become ill or overburdened.
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