Quote:
Originally Posted by ~Christina
Well I’m glad my advice is something you can maybe use.
As for a shower two days in a row ?? Showering daily is a good thing. Not only just good personal hygiene but it helps build structure and plus it just feels good.. it’s a law I made for myself I shower daily no matter what. It literally takes 10 mins from start to finish, nothing feels better than a shower and clean jammies.
I do not wash my hair each time , I only do that twice a week as daily would dry it out and that’s unhealthy.
As for home .... start to daily clean light switches , doorknobs etc over time you will realize that hey it’s clean because I wiped it down today. That takes some time , but well worth it.
It takes maybe 10 mins a day to take a Clorox wipe and walk around wiping things down
Yes ideally the long term goal is to learn to be okay and not clean things daily.. but it’s 10 mins out of a day.
I am a cleaning freak but it’s about control. Personally my T and I know I’m never going to be ok not wiping down my bathrooms daily and cleaning the toilets and all surfaces. My husband has COPD so I’m hyper alert for keeping germs out of my home, he can get sick easily.
Being proactive against things that can emotionally paralyze you is taking steps forward
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Thank you very much for your kind concern Christina.
Your ideas make sense, but to my mind they are impossible. For example, a 10 minute shower isn't 10 minutes for me. It's a long process, (before, during and after the shower), so that for me a lovely shower is not that for me anymore, it is getting into the "decontamination tank". As far as quickly and daily wiping down handles and switches so that I would know they were clean, I can't do that because I live with my dear Dad and stepmom, and they use the switches and handles too. And I wouldn't be around them constantly to see if they touched something my mind says is "contaminated" and then touched the switch or handle, so I would never know if they were clean even if I cleaned them earlier in the day! (I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense to you.
) I'm actually not afraid of germs per se. I'm not afraid of getting sick, it's just that my mind(not a voice) tells me to clean this or wash my hands, telling me that things are contaminated, and if I don't listen, the sense of anxiety inside me is unbearable. So I give in to it to have a little peace until the next time...
"Keep Swimming" ~from Finding Nemo
