Reply To: The last ten years of contamination and checking ocd. And where I seem to be now
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Hi everyone… Today, as on other days, I have had occasion to view people going in and out of public conveniences… Not fully, just while I’m in the restaurant having a meal… At motorway services, I changed my tradition… I ate before going to the loo… Which means I ate, without washing hands first… Fries… Burger in a bun… Finger food… Without washing hands after travelling in the car for 2 hundred or so, miles… That was several days ago now… Any ill-effects? Of course not! Nothing, and the meal was fabulous… In both directions to and from my holiday destination… Nothing… Seafront burger stall… Again, all is fine. There wasn’t anywhere to wash hands anyway… Even the supermarkets have stopped asking us to use antibacterials when entering the store… Today, it was cheese… Now, be honest, have you, or anyone you have ever known, washed the outside of a plastic wrapped pack of cheese? We never have, have we? And yet, we may wash our hands before doing food preparation, but what about when actually opening the food wrapper… It has been handled by lots of people, been on the conveyor belt in the store, handled by the checkout operator who handles everything they sell in the store… And yet… We place the whole pack on the chopping board, to open the pack, and slice the cheese for sandwiches… We even butter the bread on the same board… We always have, for as long as cheese has been wrapped in seethrough plastic packaging. What about edam, packed in red wax… And cheese triangles… Mmmm… Delicious…
If we start to resist cleaning everything, the anxiety will rise, the voices in our heads demand that we give in the the compulsions to clean. That is, for a short time, then they actually go quiet, and we can get on with our day. The next compulsion/voice comes along, but each time, resisting them actually gets easier… They start to go quiet… And eventually, we are free…
If I described my problems to you, and they happened to be identical to yours… What would you suggest I do? How would you help me to deal with it all… Let’s both do that then, and see how we get on…
God bless you for reading.
Wannabe