OCD AND ME

OCD. What's that you may ask? Well, it seems I have OCD written all over my body (and house), and have been in complete denial until now...

You see, last Friday I visited my hairdresser. She hasn't been my hairdresser for long, but apart from the fact that she cuts really good hair, she and I clicked. And it was this particular visit that I realised why.

We were chatting about Christmas and my ever increasing desire to put up the Christmas tree (which you will be so proud was not put up until 30 November). She told me she hated putting up and taking down the Christmas tree, to which I responded, "Why?". After all, I thought she was like me...

Then she told me that she has a little OCD problem. OCD? Yes, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, she responded. Then she proceded to tell me her Christmas story from last year.

It was in January this year when she put down her tree. Yet afterwards she couldn't sleep. That's because she put all the baubles into the Christmas tree box. You know, loose-like. She couldn't bear to think of the baubles out of order like that. So in the middle of the night, she found all the original boxes and put the baubles back in the order in which she purchased them. You know, pink, then silver, then pink, then silver. You get the picture. As she was telling me that everything had to go back exactly the way she bought it, and then put the lights back also as she bought it, she whispered to me (so none of her staff or customers could hear over the nightclub music) "It's f@$#ing sick, is what it is".

But as I giggled nervously at her frankness, you can imagine my shock and horror to think there was actually something wrong with putting the baubles back into their original boxes (in order) and folding the wires of the lights just so it looked like it was brand new. I actually hadn't thought anything of doing just that.

And then just last week I was talking with one of my oldest and dearest friends, and during our weekly chat she stated, she might sound slightly anal for doing it, but she was going to buy boxes for her Christmas decorations this year and colour code them so she could coordinate different colours combinations in the years to come.

And I thought the idea was brilliant.

But then I thought, how come these people think that simply being organised is a sin? While I think that I am slightly anally retentive, I usually relish in my organising capabilities. (And some of my friends do too!)

This same friend then challenged me to go through my cupboards and my house to see what else I do that is slightly OCD. Then take a photo.

So then I did. And here's my list:


1. There are new matching wooden coathangers in our new wardrobes (my husband's shirts are in colour order from lightest to darkest, short-sleeves to long-sleeves).

2. Our clothes are also folded in colour order (from lightest to darkest).
3. I have an 8-week meal cycle complete with rice, pasta, roast dinner and soup nights.

4. My scrapping desk is something of an art form, but everything is in matching jars.

5. My Christmas tree has only three colours on it: blue, gold, bronze.

Okay. I don't think that anything there is TOO bad. But after some comparisons with friends, I have also discovered that...

What I do not have is:

1. Alphabetically ordered herbs and spices.
2. Tins in my pantry all facing the same way.
3. Every single article of clothing ironed before it's put away.
4. Photo albums.

So, putting all those very unorganised things aside, I think I could almost say I was a balanced person.

Aren't I?