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