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Post by bixaorellana on May 22, 2009 3:54:46 GMT
We've had PHOBIAS, now what about compulsions -- those little tics that make us feel the world is aligned correctly?
One of mine is intolerance of items placed to close to the edge of a surface. This may be the result of growing up with four younger siblings and seeing too much spilt milk. No, it's more likely that I am correct in my insistence on correctness in a chaotic universe. I've had to beg the indulgence of friends with whom I'm dining, asking them to please push their beverages away from the edge of the table.
Another one is numbers. I don't like even numbers and will avoid them when necessary. I never follow directions that call for 2 cloves of garlic in a recipe, preferring to find one large one or to use three smaller ones. What I really, really like are fives and sevens, but it's not always possible to fit them in the scheme of things, more's the pity.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 11:17:20 GMT
As I ponder/obsess on this some more throughout the day I'm sure I can come up with an extensive list,but in the meantime after just taking my dog for an early a.m. stroll I have a compulsion to pick up litter in my path.(as much as I physically can anyway).
Alot of my compulsions become obsessions,it gets tricky. Very fine line in many instances.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 11:33:20 GMT
If people are sloppily stacking the hand baskets at the checkout at the supermarket, I have to put them in order.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 11:35:33 GMT
Me too
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 12:08:37 GMT
Then I want to slap some on the onlookers whose eyes are telling me "even if I worked here, I wouldn't do that!"
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Post by bixaorellana on May 22, 2009 16:42:54 GMT
I think what you all are describing is more simple good manners and good citizenship than compulsion. I reflexively pick up items dropped or spilled by others in stores and markets, simply because that's what one does.
Come on, people! I'm having trouble believing everyone is so totally non-neurotic.
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Post by Kimby on May 22, 2009 20:34:51 GMT
I have a compulsion to count things, like steps up a church tower, railcars in a train, numbers of animals in a herd (wild only, I don't count cows)...
I know that bonafide OC (obsessive-compulsive) people share this trait, but I don't think I'm that bad. Though I do wash my hands a lot...
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 20:46:29 GMT
I can't help but turn and look when I see a handsome man. Sometimes I catch myself doing this and then mentally kick myself for it.
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Post by spindrift on May 22, 2009 21:18:34 GMT
I doubt I have any compulsions....sorry to disappoint.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 21:19:31 GMT
 Some of those table manner details sort of looked like compulsions!
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 21:21:27 GMT
The counting thing,the only time I do it is when I am planting seeds(alot).I count each one for no reason whatsoever.I rarely grow poppies.
I found out some years ago that my mother does(did) the exact same thing.
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Post by spindrift on May 22, 2009 21:23:48 GMT
Is that so, Kerouac?
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Post by bixaorellana on May 22, 2009 21:46:46 GMT
He can't hear you, Spindrift. He has food in his ears.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2009 21:47:17 GMT
;D Just keep guessing!
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Post by hwinpp on May 23, 2009 2:58:22 GMT
I just had to find 'The Raven'. Was that something compulsive? Otherwise nothing much I think. I twirl my hair, have done so since I was small, also 'draw' triangles on my thigh and on the end of my cigarette filter. Now those last two could be considered compulsive/obsessive? |
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Post by bixaorellana on May 23, 2009 3:27:01 GMT
Yay ~~ finally a normally compulsive person!
How do you draw triangles on the end of your cigarette filter?
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Post by hwinpp on May 23, 2009 3:35:11 GMT
I usually hold the cigarette in my left hand, 'classic' style between my index finger and the middle finger. Then I make triangular movements with my thumb on the end of the filter. People have noticed it...
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Post by bixaorellana on May 23, 2009 4:24:44 GMT
Are you left-handed? It would be so odd to smoke with the left hand if you weren't
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Post by Jazz on May 23, 2009 6:44:16 GMT
In a bookstore, on tables of books I sort books back into their special piles that others have sloppily thrown down... If I take a book from a shelf, it goes back exactly in its place. If I am in a fabric shop or a clothing shop, I refold the bolt of cloth or the item of clothing so that it looks beautiful again.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2009 11:37:19 GMT
I do the book thing too Jazz.
If I'm visiting someone else's garden I compulsively start pulling their weeds.
And I can't stand to see yellowing leaves on a plant,HAVE to remove them.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 23, 2009 14:06:27 GMT
 Yeek. Me too on the compulsive weed & dead leaf removal.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2009 17:09:49 GMT
When water is running in the gutter in the street (as it often does in Paris), I have to break any dams of trash that are blocking the flow, if there are not too many witnesses. (If I were under the age of 12, I would not be as bothered by witnesses.)
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Post by bixaorellana on May 24, 2009 1:47:52 GMT
I have lots of those hate-to-leave-the-house compulsions and I have to speak to myself very firmly to control them: "NO ~ you didn't leave the water running in the bathtub because you don't have a bathtub." or "Of COURSE you locked the door -- you always lock the door!"
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Post by spindrift on May 24, 2009 22:08:22 GMT
Now you mention it I do have a slight wish to keep checking if I've turned the gas off if I'm leaving the house. I would also like to check to see that the iron isn't plugged in or my hair straighteners are 'off'. I, also, speak firmly to myself then force myself to leave the house.
I don't understand why my mind persists in these compulsive thoughts when it knows that I won't give in to it.
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Post by tillystar on May 30, 2009 20:50:17 GMT
I am quite a untidy kind of person at home. In hotel rooms I am obsessively tidy and things get lined up, unpack straight away and put clothes away neatly etc.
If I go to the loo in the night I have to run and be back under the bedcovers before it stops flushing.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2009 20:56:00 GMT
If I go to the loo in the night I have to run and be back under the bedcovers before it stops flushing. Oh, that is weird! |
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Post by bixaorellana on May 30, 2009 22:28:47 GMT
Tilly-at-the-toilet:   Weird, Kerouac?  I think maybe you shouldn't even look at this picture, it's just too weird.
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Post by tillystar on May 30, 2009 22:38:18 GMT
Yes, yes, yes! Thats it! Although rather than a monster its tiny viscious imps (yes, imps again!) that live in the toilet and come up when you flush and bite your bottom if you aren't fast enough.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 30, 2009 22:46:27 GMT
It could happen.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2009 22:52:39 GMT
tilly,your avatar is making more and more sense by the minute
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Some of those table manner details sort of looked like compulsions! 
