OCD

Now I know a lot of you know that OCD stands for, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  How many of you are really willing to admit to some form of OCD in your life.  By OCD I mean some form of obsessive need to do things over and over until they are right, or doing things in a way that cannot be changed without some major anxiety.  There are a lot of you out there, so come on and admit it.  If not to the world, to yourselves. 

How many of you check the locks repeatedly before going to bed? 
How many of you find it necessary to put all the same cans in the same area of the cupboard, neatly stacked in rows?
How many of you cannot stand to see two socks that are not perfectly matched? 
Does it bother you when glasses on a table are different? 
Can you stand to watch someone eat and mix it all up on their plate? 
No.
Then, you my friend have OCD.

Now there are different forms of this peculiar affliction.  In my case, people laugh when I eat candies of multiple colors.  It is nearly impossible for me to eat more than one color at a time.  I like to separate them into piles, or I will carefully pick them out of a group of candies, by color.  I also find it hard to eat uneven numbers of items.  I have had this problem since childhood, some 50 years ago.  I did not find it hard when eating a meal, but when it came time for snacks, goodies or candy, my world would come to a screeching halt. 

I never really understood what caused this to happen.  I don't remember it ever being any different than it is today.  My family and friends all make fun of me, but put up with my silly quirk.  I just remind them of the silly things that they do.  I have over the years found other people with this same OCD trait.   It makes me feel not quite so strange to find that others do the same thing as I do when eating colored items.

I figure it is just my way of keeping my sanity.  Reds go together, blues go together, yellow, green, and all the other colors that candies and goodies come in.  The fact that I have to eat one color at time, or can only eat even numbers of items, is something that is part of me.  I have tried to stop.  I gave it everything I have not long ago.  I put a handful of  M&M's in my mouth.  It was the worst candy I have ever eaten.  My mind was so engulfed in the fact that the colors were all mixing together, that there was no way I could enjoy the fact that I was eating M&M's.  It was horrible.  I have gone back to eating things the old way.  Each color by itself, and in pairs.  I am to old to change. I know its weird, but  I have decided I can live with it.  Can you?