Sunday, December 11, 2016

My OCD

Hi! My name is Brianna. I have OCD. My room is not clean, my bed is not made and my books are not sorted alphabetically. That is not my OCD.
But I will always put my socks on right then left and then my shoes, right then left. I will always pull my pants off by the right pant leg then the left. My phone will always be in my right back pocket and my headphones will always be on my left side.
That is my OCD.
I will always use shampoo, then put conditioner in, then wash my body, then rinse my hair. I will always brush my teeth right bottom, middle bottom, side bottom, right top, middle top, left top.
This is my OCD
 I will never step on a sidewalk seam. I will never step on the stairs with my left foot first. I will count the cars and light posts until I hit an even number that feels right. If I end on an odd number, I will find more cars until I have an even one. I find myself counting words rather than reading them. This sentence has an even amount of words. This one doesn't does not. I have to eat an even number of pieces. If I find myself with one m&m left I will bite it in half so I can have two. One piece on each side until there are none left. If I get cookies I will either get an even number or I will eat the first one in half, one half on each side of my mouth.
This is my OCD.
Sometimes people tease me for it. They think it's just something quirky I do for fun or as a habit. They make sure to eat two of my five gummy bears and leave me with an odd number. What they don't know is that I will spend the next half hour feeling uncomfortable. It makes me cringe at the thought of not pulling a door shut all the way. The feeling of incompleteness will cause me to open and close the door several times until it feels right.
That, is my OCD.
I like things neat and orderly. Everyone can appreciate a perfect line of pencils. But that is not my OCD unless three of those pencils are blue and two are red. I just changed the number of pencils in my imaginary scenario because four and one didn't feel right to me.
THAT is my OCD.
I count the lines on the floor or the colors in your eyes or the shapes on the wall or the cabinets in your kitchen. Putting away the dishes is my job because nobody else understands that the new spoons go on the bottom or that all the plates have to face to one side. They don't know that as I think of new things to type I am tapping my fingers on the keyboard and I am trying to make sure I put an even number and it never works so I just count them as pairs. Does this paragraph seem too long because at this point I am just trying to get the incomplete feeling to go away. It hasn't yet but that's okay because I will tap my finger against the table firmly until it feels right.
Yes that feels better.
All of these things have become such a part of me that I don't even notice them unless I leave myself with nothing else to think about. They mostly become background noise. Until I'm left with one m&m...
That is my OCD

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