Quirks, I Have a Few

May 31, 2012 in Health, Mental Health, People, Society

Sometimes, I am convinced that I have mild obsessive compulsive disorder. Quirks, I suppose you would call them, little flashes of paranoia. Everyone has them, some more so than others. I like to think I have mine totally under control!

I have several. I can’t have the TV volume or any volume control on 13. Also, the volume control has to be on an even number or a number ending in 5. 15 is ok, 17 is not! In the mornings, when I watch TV, I usually eat my breakfast at about 7:00am in front of Sunrise (don’t judge!). Even if I have finished my breakfast, I can’t get up and put the dishes in the sink until 7:13am has passed.

The scariest number of all!

What else? Well, most mornings at work, I like to have a mid morning coffee. I don’t go at 10:00am, because there is usually a rush to get a mid morning coffee at that time. 10:30am is the same, so I have to go at 10:14am. Obviously, if I am really busy or have a meeting, court, etc, this doesn’t happen *daily* but if I can control my work day, I have to go for my mid morning coffee at 10:14am! I also can’t get out of bed until it has passed 13 past the hour!

Why do I have such fear of the number 13? Is it because I am afraid the apocalypse will come if I get up from the couch at 7:13am? No, but I do have an irrational fear that the rest of my day will be shit, because the number 13 is thought to be bad luck! Some hotels don’t even have a 13th floor, so it obviously isn’t just me!

Likewise, I get very bothered if I don’t get all of my washing done on a Saturday morning. I feel completely out of sorts. If it is raining and my washing doesn’t dry by Sunday afternoon, I feel annoyed that I haven’t been able to get all my jobs done before I have to go to work on Monday. Washing in winter is something I hate because even though it is mostly sunny in winter, clothes still take even longer to dry because of the cold!

The cause of much anxiety in my house!

Who else does that thing with hair straighteners where suddenly a thought pops into your head that you haven’t turned yours off and you’re half way to work? Have you called your housemate in a tizzy, to see if they can check it for you? Gotten off the bus and gone home again to double-check? On days I use my hair straightener, I have to go into the bathroom just before I leave the house to make sure it is turned off. Even if I can remember turning it off, I convince myself that could have been ”yesterday” and I have to make SURE. Now I have a GHD with an instruction manual that reassures me it turns itself off after being on for a certain time frame, I am less panicked, but I still double check! I once had my old housemate call me to double-check she had turned her straightener off. I rolled my eyes and went and checked it for her to reassure her AND IT WAS STILL ON! If I had left for work a bit early and couldn’t check it, the whole house could have burned down! See! My panicking is not that irrational, they do get left on!

On a recent episode of Khloe & Lamar (judge away!), the younger brother, Rob, is in the car travelling back from the zoo, and immediately tells Khloe that he doesn’t think he locked the lion (or something) enclosure properly on their way out. He insists that she call the zoo to make them check it. This then turns into a huge plot point about how he has mild OCD and should get professional help.

I couldn’t help but think that was a little bit over the top. Yes, it is reality TV, but, I mean, we all have these little quirks, but they’re mostly just that, quirks. Controllable little blights of your personality. Mine probably stems from my personality traits of perfectionist and worrier. Maybe Rob’s was out of control and he did need help, but from what I saw, he seems to be a mild overthinker and worrier. If someone told me I should seek help for my little quirks, I would probably look at them as if they suggested I undergo a colonoscopy for fun!

So what about you? Do you have any little quirks? What are they? Have your quirks ever felt out of control? Do you think that little quirks are mild OCD or just, that, quirks?

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Whippersnapper has written 37 posts.

9 Comments »

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http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

I am a compulsive counter and reader, so I will do things like count the number of steps in a staircase (to myself) and read labels and what-not…used to be much worse when I was a kid…

I am also obsessed with shoe-laces…they have to be exactly even on both sides before I’ll tie my shoes…which is probably one reason I switched to wearing monkey-feet…they usually don’t have laces…

I’m not worried by any of my quicks, because in the scheme of things, they don’t affect how I function…but I’d hate to have something that controlled how I lived my life…
Detachable Princess

JJ, I’m a stair-counter too! I think it stems from waaaay back when I was little, Mum would use stairs as a way of teaching me to count. I do the same with my boys. Still, I can tell you how many stairs are at the front and back of Mum’s house, my house, the internal stairs at daycare…

I have a weird thing about my left and right sides being ‘equal’. So, if I scuff my left foot while I’m walking I will then DELIBERATELY scuff my right foot – in the same spot, mind – so they’re both the same. Bizarre, I know.
Bek M

For me things need to be really hot or really cold. I have my fridge turned down to the lowest temp. I chill my cereal bowl in the freezer before filling it to try and keep the milk cold while eating. I always have ice cubes in my drinks, even in winter. I heat up my plate in the microwave so it doesn’t suck the heat out of my toast. I eat the toast quick so it doesn’t get cold. I used to only have one piece of toast at a time so it stayed hot, but now I can do two, as long as it has vegemite. If I put honey on toast it has to be hot. I hate it when people try and talk to me while I’m eating hot food, cos it gets all lukewarm and gross.
Valentina B

I count stairs too, and make sure that if I’m walking on a footpath and the cracks are evenly spaced that i take the same number of steps in each square. I don’t know if it’s a compulsion or just to make my trip a little more fun!!

If i stretch one side of my body, I have to stretch the other even if it doesn’t need to be stretched.

I also still count carriages on freight trains.
Monique Fischle

13 is one of my favourite numbers as I was born on the 13th. Not sure we can be friends anymore Whipper….

Anywho, I’m the same with volumes, either have to be an even number or ending in 5. I need my DVDs and books to be alphabetized, I like things to be lined up nicely. I’m pretty OCD about a lot of things. I also like colour coordination.
http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse

I’m with you on volume controls, they HAVE to be on an even number or a 5. Have to be.

I rip the skin off my fingers when I’m nervous. I don’t like things on benches, and get upset if the kitchen isn’t clean.

If there are cakes, muffins, any other baked goods, I like to specifically choose the one I’m buying. Luckily I am generally quite cute when I ask (I can turn it on when I need to) so people just laugh and comply, rather than thinking I’m a crazy person. Although recently a colleague had to pick me a banana and he had a panic attack because he didn’t know the criteria by which I pick things (I have no banana criteria).
- Rose Russo
  
  I rip the skin off my fingers when I’m nervous too… it drives people insane!!!!
Lady Lizard

For the record I have actually left my hair irons on all day once and the apartment didn’t burn down, but I still wouldn’t recommend it
http://www.strongerbraversmarter.wordpress.com Lucy Gilkison

I’m a counter too! I count stairs, the amount of edges on furniture, etc. I can’t have the tv on an odd number, not even if it ends with a 5. I count the number of steps I take between cracks on the sidewalk. I get distressed if I use a vending machine and press 14, for example but it gives me my diet coke from a 13 or 15.

KiKi & Tea