A Day in the Life of an Obsessive Compulsive

Dear Vocal Readers,

Oh, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, how I love it so. Many people see those words and think, "Oh they must be a clean freak." While that can be true, the disorder is so much more than that. It affects your thoughts and pushes you time and time again to complete tasks you don't want to. That's how it is for me at least. I don't have an extremely severe case of OCD so thankfully I can tell which thoughts are made up by my own mind, or my OCD mind which I have named "Olly" after that little scumbag from Game of Thrones.

Keep in mind that the experiences that I have and will share with you all are completely my own, and in no way reflect how everyone with OCD acts or thinks. Now that I've gone over some of the basics of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I will tell you how my average day goes.

The Start of My Day

My wake up is normal for the most part. I don't have any specific morning routine other than checking my phone and getting out of bed. Then, I proceed to prepare a bowl of cereal like I do every morning. Once that is eaten the bowl goes into the sink and cleaned thoroughly. Now that there is food in my stomach I can take my anxiety pill. What follows after this depends on what I have planned. But every time I come in and out of a room I make sure 2-4 times that the door is completely closed due to my fear of one of the pets getting into something dangerous.

The Middle of My Day

As I said before, this greatly differs depending on my plans for the day. Lately I have been going over to my family's new house in order to help prepare it for move in day. Leaving my current house means that I make sure all of the doors are locked and this requires a few minutes. In those minutes I double, triple, and quadruple check the doors. I push them in and turn the knobs to their locked position five times. Once I have convinced myself to stop I leave and then check three times to make sure the front door is locked and closed. If I go out through the garage then I make sure everyone looks to see it close all the way before we leave. After all of that I am off. Once I get to my destination I make sure my car doors are closed and that all windows are rolled up, then proceed to lock it and hear the honk five times. If I use the trunk at all I check three times to make sure it is properly closed.

My Night

Once I get home I repeat the cycle of making sure the car is shut and locked. The only difference is that at night I may lock up to 8 times because of my fear that people would try to break into it, and the fear only heightens when nighttime rolls around. Then when I get ready for bed I clean my toothbrush five times before I put it back. After using the sink I push the faucet down five times so it doesn't drip water throughout the night. If I use makeup wipes I check anywhere between 5-8 times to make sure it is closed. After I use a tissue to clean the mess of toothpaste around my mouth, I check it front and back five times to make sure nothing of importance got in there so that I can throw it out (This applies to every time I throw something away). Once I finish up in the bathroom I check the floor two times to make sure no medicine dropped down. After I make sure the lights are off I touch them two times to see if they are all the way down. Then I make sure the door is closed and go to my room. Now I check under my bed and in my closet because you know, anyone could be hiding in my room of course. My last step is putting my retainers in, and the use of sanitizer afterwords.

Well there you have it! A day in the life of an obsessive compulsive. I hope this has been able to teach people about what living with OCD is really like. If you read this and think that you may possibly have the disorder, I would suggest you check that out. Not knowing you live with OCD is much more painful than being aware of why you think the way you do. If you are currently living with the diagnosis I salute you and wish you the best in your struggle.

Whether you have it or don't have it, know that you should never give up. When life is really getting to you and making you feel worthless, know that you are so important. Keep on living everyone, and try to find happiness no matter what your situation is.

Sincerely from the thoughts of Olly,

Kacie