Obsessions or compulsions that annoy you :(

[Chew Magna]

Anybody else have one? Or more than one? I have a couple that are a constant annoyance to me. I can barely stand to watch tv or movies because I continuously write the word NOW on the screen, forwards and backwards, over and over for the entire length of time I'm sitting there. I always end up with a massive headache because of it. Matter of fact, I'm doing it right now as I write this. I can force myself to stop for a little while, seconds usually, but it always starts up again, most of the time without noticing it. Those few seconds when I can stop it's like a reverberating stillness in my head, kind of like after you're finished mowing the yard with a push mower and your hands still feel the vibrations.

The other is when I'm driving or riding in a car. I use my feet to "jump" the lines and turn offs on the road. I've done this since I was a kid and I've never been able to stop it.

It feels frickin' weird talking about this. I've never mentioned these before to anyone, but I've also never had the proper audience until now to say anything about it. It's a bit of a relief.

 

[Kari Suttle]

When i first get onto a new register at work everything has to be just right. It annoys me to have to organize it just right - and the customers waiting on me - but whatever. I have learned to curb the compulsion at least a little, but it still gets in the way. I'd list more compulsions and obsessions that annoy me but i'm about to go to work so i can't think properly right now. My mind is on work not me. I might re-reply to this later though i probably have a ton. I swear i'm borderline OCD, my friend that actually has OCD has asked me if i have it too before. Multiple times.

 

[Judge]

Obsession with physical symmetry...having everything be parallel or perpendicular to other objects. A compulsion to checking locked doors...over and over.

It's very hard to chirp my car alarm off or on just once.

Rituals: I can't ever leave the house without exactly four pennies in my pocket. No more, no less.

I think I'm in denial that it only annoys me. Sometimes I just think I'm "broken". I suppose it helps somewhat that nearly no one really notices my OCD. Although my cousin recently complained that she thought I'm too "picky" just about everything.

 

[Nitro]

I must arrange items anywhere in ways that please my eyes.
My pantry resembles a grocery store for example and all the labels must be positioned alike. The gray matter in my head is fussy about symmetry,color and sizing of objects in storage or display. My toolrooms in my shops always looked like a hospital setting with easy identification of lost items.

 

[Kari Suttle]

Obsession with physical symmetry...having everything be parallel or perpendicular to other objects. A compulsion to checking locked doors...over and over.

It's very hard to chirp my car alarm off or on just once.

Me too. Everything around me has to line up right (by type or size) and to look as orderly as possible. I can't leave the house or go to sleep without double and occassionally triple checking that all the doors are locked. Before i go to bed i double and occassionally triple check that not only is my alarm set, but that all the detailed settings are correct (such as that it is set to go off everyday instead of a certain day, even though i never mess with those settings.)

Its not even rational. So many times i lay in bed, just having laid down, and want badly to check my alarm even if i literally just checked it just to make sure. Well i tell myself its just to make sure but i drive myself crazy trying to resist the need to check it just one more time. Back when i had a car, i did indeed doublecheck that it was locked as well.

 

[Ste11aeres]

Rituals: I can't ever leave the house without exactly four pennies in my pocket. No more, no less.

It has to be four? Really? Why'd it have to be that exact number, Aurgh... ()
I like the number three, and sometimes when I am drinking water, my compulsion is to take gulps in multiples of three.

 

[Judge]

It has to be four? Really? Why'd it have to be that exact number, Aurgh... ()
I like the number three, and sometimes when I am drinking water, my compulsion is to take gulps in multiples of three.

I have no idea. But then real OCD has nothing to do with rational thought. Perhaps the saddest thing about it is knowing that it isn't rational, and being compelled to do it anyways.

The worst is checking my front door lock at night. Because I KNOW I already checked it, and yet I still feel compelled to check it again. And again. And again....until at some point I just go to bed.

In another time I suspect society might have locked me up...

 

[Ellylldan]

I have a few obsessions and compulsions but one is just annoying as hell.

My apartment door is beside the elevator. Usually I use the stairs but when I happen to use the elevator I MUST open my door, enter home and close the door before the elevator's door starts closing. If I take too long unlocking the door and I am not in time, I just have to wait for the elevator to close the door and only then I can enter. If I get caught with my apartment door open while the elevator door is in the process of closing, I get a horrible panic attack.

I know it doesn't make sense, but Judge said it just right:

But then real OCD has nothing to do with rational thought. Perhaps the saddest thing about it is knowing that it isn't rational, and being compelled to do it anyways.

 

[Judge]

I once tried to explain OCD to my cousin to no avail, telling her "Part of it can be a matter of perceived circumstances potentially yielding consequences. Consequences which do not actually exist, yet we fear them anyways."

It is annoying when you know they don't exist, yet at the same time cannot stop from thinking that they do exist. Yet another case of contradictions I have mentioned in other threads...

I can only say that in this instance, I see no advantage in such a thought process.

 

[AsheSkyler]

When I was a kid, if I saw a digital clock read :59 I had to sit there and watch it tick over to the :00 of the next hour. I don't know why I did it or why I stopped doing it.

 

[paloftoon]

People who keep making up excuses for things that they just simply don't want to do. People who ask you to be their calendar or for you to e-mail them dates of events. People who won't initiate with you or only do when you're seeing them in-person or bumping in to them. If I was picky to a T about this, I'd probably have no one at all. So, instead, I just consider these people undependable friends that I just try to hang out with when I can on my time and if I seem interested in said event.

 

[Chew Magna]

It has to be four? Really? Why'd it have to be that exact number, Aurgh... ()
I like the number three, and sometimes when I am drinking water, my compulsion is to take gulps in multiples of three.

I do something similar, I have to count sips when I drink anything.

I know I have more but most are subconscious and I don't really realize I'm doing them most of the time. Plus my memory is so flighty these days... I'll pick up that I'm doing something every now and then, then totally forget about it until I notice I'm doing it again.

 

[Nadador]

For me, it's always been about checking and over-attention to detail. Anything I use for a purpose always has to be painstakingly inspected for structural integrity. A bloody piece of string can't have so much as a stray thread. When I've finished my checking, I have to mark it in some way, with a visible nod or audible whisper of "that's good" or "all set, then". Even still, I always feel the urge to check again.

I have no idea. But then real OCD has nothing to do with rational thought. Perhaps the saddest thing about it is knowing that it isn't rational, and being compelled to do it anyways.

The worst is checking my front door lock at night. Because I KNOW I already checked it, and yet I still feel compelled to check it again. And again. And again....until at some point I just go to bed.

Locks used to be my nemeses. I would check and check as I left my flat, even lowering my ear to the lock to hear it engage, then get halfway to my destination and have to go back and check again. I was eventually housebound, for that, and for making sure the cooker and other electrics were off. I have a terrible fear of electrics, which is very inconvenient for living in the civilised world. It started when I was in a cheap flat at university, and could hear a faint humming sound in the walls at night. I became so preoccupied with the thought of deadly current and potential fire in every wall, everywhere, that just being indoors was enough to increase my heart-rate and knot up my guts. I had all sorts of odd rituals that went with my checking, like counting and talking to myself, and clicking my fingers along with the motion of turning the lock or the knob on the cooker. It was a living hell. I still want to do it, sometimes, when I'm stressed. It makes me feel like I'm utterly mad.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Locks used to be my nemeses. I would check and check as I left my flat, even lowering my ear to the lock to hear it engage, then get halfway to my destination and have to go back and check again. I was eventually housebound, for that, and for making sure the cooker and other electrics were off. I have a terrible fear of electrics, which is very inconvenient for living in the civilised world. It started when I was in a cheap flat at university, and could hear a faint humming sound in the walls at night. I became so preoccupied with the thought of deadly current and potential fire in every wall, everywhere, that just being indoors was enough to increase my heart-rate and knot up my guts. I had all sorts of odd rituals that went with my checking, like counting and talking to myself, and clicking my fingers along with the motion of turning the lock or the knob on the cooker. It was a living hell. I still want to do it, sometimes, when I'm stressed. It makes me feel like I'm utterly mad.

I was a basket case when I lived in apartments. While I had enough sense to monitor the stoves, ovens, dryers, and potential fire-causing things, I had no guarantee my neighbors did. I still keep everything off except for ceiling lights when I leave.

 

[Rocky Top Repetition]

When I was a kid, if I saw a digital clock read :59 I had to sit there and watch it tick over to the :00 of the next hour. I don't know why I did it or why I stopped doing it.

That reminds me of every morning how I look at the clock and keep closing my eyes for a few seconds and reopening them to see if it's time yet.

Of course at night I have to set the alarm even though it never goes off. I always wake up before that. Still, setting it requires six clicks of the side switch and three volume checks. Used to really get on people's nerves when I lived with family.

 

[Nadador]

I was a basket case when I lived in apartments. While I had enough sense to monitor the stoves, ovens, dryers, and potential fire-causing things, I had no guarantee my neighbors did. I still keep everything off except for ceiling lights when I leave.

I literally shut off the power to my home at night, when I'm ready to lie down. If I still want to read, I use candles. I'd rather deal with flames I can see than potential fires that I can't. Flats are rough, as you can be as "safe" as you wish, but the bloke next door might be utterly negligent.

 

[photoaddict]

I never leave the house without a pocket knife. It's always in my pocket or purse (if what I'm wearing that day doesn't have pockets). I really don't do well when I *can't* have it. I started carrying it all the time because it seemed like every time I went out without it, I ended up needing it for something. Now, I feel like something is wrong if I don't have it. It's just really annoying because you can't take a knife into a courthouse, an airport, etc., but I always forget I have it, until I'm setting off alarms.

 

[epath13]

I never leave the house without a pocket knife. It's always in my pocket or purse (if what I'm wearing that day doesn't have pockets). I really don't do well when I *can't* have it. I started carrying it all the time because it seemed like every time I went out without it, I ended up needing it for something. Now, I feel like something is wrong if I don't have it. It's just really annoying because you can't take a knife into a courthouse, an airport, etc., but I always forget I have it, until I'm setting off alarms.

This reminded me, I used to carry a knife my dad made for me. I carried it to sharpen pencils with it (I liked sharpening pencils with a knife more than with a sharpener ) and for security purposes... I don't carry it any more, I'm not even sure where it is.

 

[photoaddict]

I managed to lose my first pocket knife when it fell out of my pocket. I replaced it with the same kind, but Amazon was running a special sale that had a smaller one at a discount, if you spent a certain amount (less than the cost of the first knife), so I ended up with two. The smaller one is nice, when I don't want it to be obvious. The bigger one is pretty obvious in my pocket. I got my first one because I'd been watching way too much MacGyver. I use the scissors a lot. I prefer them for clipping my nails, over the clippers. I seem to always have loose threads or tags that need to be cut off and they never bother me until I'm away from home, so I'm always having to fix those. It's gotten to a point where everyone who knows me, knows I carry one, so everyone asks me for it, when they need to cut something. Even when other people in the room have something, I'm always the first asked, just because of that reputation. (My cousin always carries one, too, but that seems to have been forgotten somewhere along the way.)

 

[CJBR]

I can't stand flooring that has too much pattern. I like floors that are grid-like(with squares a person could fit in, not the tiny tiles I feel uncomfortable standing on those.) or is one single solid color. If the flooring has stripes, I need to have my feet parallel with the lines. When I'm idle, I need to be standing in a square. This is a problem because my work has carpet that is a grid style but the squares have lines that are either vertical or horizontal. The squares a really big so I have to take big steps if I want to get to the next square. I don't step on cracks in the side walk and I usually like to step on the lightest color.