OCD and what it's done to me

Since birth I have adopted little... habits, let's say. Not necessarily significant things, just little routines, practices, etc. that I always assumed every person did-- to some degree. I mean everybody counts how many cars are in a passing train, how many tiles are in the ceiling, or just how many things of a certain thing there are, right? And thinks the fringe of a rug must always be pristine, whether it be by hand or by vacuum, and that their closet must be color coded... correct?

Scared yet? That's just the icing on my very decadent, obsessive-compulsive cake.

I have an interesting obsession with the number four and the number one. For every four things I do on the left, I have to do one on the right... in sets of four. And then a set of a five and a two for good measure. Make sense? Didn't think so. I also have to set my alarm for a time ending in three or seven... don't know why it can't just be the one or the four... but yeah, and if I set my alarm and it doesn't "feel" right, I have to keep doing it until it does. My latest problem is the fact that I keep thinking that I have not unplugged my straightening iron (even if I can remember doing so) and have started to drive to work and have to go back to check it. (This has only happened two or three times, ok?)

Sufficiently creeped out yet?

Yes, I think it'd be fair to assume that I suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder. Which is fine with me; after all, I've known no different. I've only become aware of the freakishness of it all since high school, and thankfully college did a lot to alleviate some of my worst routines. (Maybe that's why I only got a 24% compulsive result on that "How OCD are you?" test I took last week... but then again, another one of those quizzes said that if I were an animal I'd be a platypus, even though anyone in their right mind knows I'd totally be a cheetah... or a gazelle...) I think the thing about OCD that has plagued me the most is my propensity to worry about EVERYTHING. I think I'm getting better (at least at faking it) but some days it drives me nuts. But, like everything else in life, it takes time. (And unlike OCD, patience is something I am oft times completely devoid of.)

In spite of the potential downside of these quirks, I think they're part of what makes me me. It gives me something to blog about. Because I'll tell you what, I am so sick of those Barbie-types that like to carry on like they have no skeletons in their closets. BOR-ING. Give me a Barbie-type who has something interesting to bring to the table, like narcolepsy or something. That's what makes each of us great. So yeah, you may view me a little differently after you read this post, but hey, I'm honest. And I know peeps like Kenna are just like me. So there you have it.