OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE GRAPE EATING

When I eat grapes, I have to grab a handful in an even number.

When I eat m and m’s (which is a fairly regular event) I have to eat them in lots of four and all the colours have to be different. So if I grab a handful that doesn’t result in the last four fulfilling such requirements, I have to grab another handful. And on it goes until there are none left.

When I’m sitting still I play combinations on my fingers and toes that have to be repeated and reversed and I cannot stop until the cycle is complete.

When I grocery shop, I cannot buy the first item on the shelf because in my head that is the one that everyone touches. I have to get the second, or preferably third one.

When I walk with someone, I have to be on his or her left-hand side. This is not because I’m partially deaf in my left ear, but because it feels wrong walking on people’s right.

Also, I can’t walk in a straight line. I list to the left. So it’s better for everyone if I start there in the first place.

I have a special way of tying the shoelaces on my running shoes. There has to be just the right tension around the ankle otherwise I have to undo them and start again.

Phew. Do I feel better now that’s out in the open.

The very open, given that I’ve just published it on a blog that can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the entire world.

Doesn’t matter.

Acknowledging is the first step to accepting.

It appears that for me things have to be even and fair. What happens one way must also happen in reverse.

(Except for the shoelace thing. That’s just a peculiarity).            

Psychologists would have a field day with that assumption wouldn’t they?

This post was inspired by the grapes I was eating just before I sat down to write. 

The eight grapes I was eating to be exact.

And as I counted twice to make sure the number of grapes was, in fact, an even number, it made me wonder just how many obsessive-compulsive habits I actually have.

Quite a few as it turns out.

But come on people, ‘fess up. I know I’m not alone.

I’m off to eat peanut butter and honey on an even two vita wheats.

I’ll check back in later to see if any of you have let me in on the weird things that make you, you. 

Embrace 'em people, they're what makes us unique!