(no subject)
For me, one of the most confusing problems that comes with being obsessive-compulsive is that after a while, it becomes very difficult for me to figure out just what I'm supposed to be worrying about. One of the basic characteristics of being obsessive-compulsive, at least as I've experienced it, is that one spends a considerable amount of time and energy feeling very anxious about things that would strike most people as incredibly unlikely at best, and absurd at worst. Two extreme examples would be worrying every other day that you ran over a pedestrian or pedestrians in the course of a normal commute, or worrying that someone that you accidentally bumped into on the subway is angry enough to hunt you down and kill you (I have indeed worked myself into a very stressful state more than once for both of those reasons.)
Most cases aren't quite this extreme, but it's safe to say that I spend a lot of time and energy worrying about things that many people would find strange or a waste of time. This leads to the a different kind of problem - I know that some of my worries aren't "legitimate", but how do I tell the difference? This isn't as easy as it sounds. Most of the things that I worry about aren't quite as unlikely as the examples that I gave above. In fact, even some of the "bizarre" worries aren't completely out of the question. Besides, if you get anxious about something often enough, the anxiety doesn't seem bizarre or unreasonable to you anymore, regardless of what other people think.
So, I will probably continue on my current path in the future, spending much more time feeling anxious about the remote possibility that I ran an animal over with my car, or that I forgot to lock my car even though I check it 2 or 3 times before walking away, then worrying about things like whether I've paid my bills on time, which are much more practical but for some reason don't set my anxiety alarm bells ringing.
Most cases aren't quite this extreme, but it's safe to say that I spend a lot of time and energy worrying about things that many people would find strange or a waste of time. This leads to the a different kind of problem - I know that some of my worries aren't "legitimate", but how do I tell the difference? This isn't as easy as it sounds. Most of the things that I worry about aren't quite as unlikely as the examples that I gave above. In fact, even some of the "bizarre" worries aren't completely out of the question. Besides, if you get anxious about something often enough, the anxiety doesn't seem bizarre or unreasonable to you anymore, regardless of what other people think.
So, I will probably continue on my current path in the future, spending much more time feeling anxious about the remote possibility that I ran an animal over with my car, or that I forgot to lock my car even though I check it 2 or 3 times before walking away, then worrying about things like whether I've paid my bills on time, which are much more practical but for some reason don't set my anxiety alarm bells ringing.