Perfectionism

Yes! I used to even keep all the original boxes for objects and put them in “as packaged” after using them. Two things helped me: • buying the cheaper version of the thing to try it out, and give myself permission to treat it poorly. Pretty soon, things that were precious were treated with care because *i cared*, not because *i feared*. • setting a ground rule. For sunglasses, for example, I get to clean them ONCE before putting them on. Not after, not during, etc. Small rules like these help cut compulsions out and get down to what is actually functional. For example, with sunglasses, I want to see clearly through them. I don’t want to spend my whole life cleaning them. So, before it is time to see through them…I clean them once! Small rules that dramatically curb compulsions helped me expose myself long enough for OCD to learn these things *really aren’t that big of a deal*. I always make sure to discard rules after they have served a purpose and randomly switch things up to keep OCD guessing. I really enjoy breaking up “rigid thinking” this way!

Thank you this really helps! Yea I do the same thing with keeping them in the same box as packaged sometimes like you used to do. I still have my the box that my new sunglasses came in, not sure what I would do with it lol. Planned on putting the microfiber towels that I would use to clean sunglasses back in there individually packaged wraps. Also I dropped my new microfiber cloth on the ground that came with my sunglasses. I threw it away because it might have gotten dirt or sand on it that would scratch my sunglasses since I already have new individually wrapped ones I could use. Then I got mad at myself for throwing away a perfectly good microfiber towel that I could have shaken off or washed off and it would have been fine. Then used generic microfiber cloth that didn’t come with sunglasses and noticed there may be a bunch of fine microfibers on it. So then questioned if the cloth I threw away would have been better and wouldn’t have left those little fibers on my sunglasses, because that microfiber might have been better because it was a Costa Del Mar microfiber and my sunglasses are Costa Del Mar. So my ocd is telling me I need to buy the same microfiber that I just threw away the other day. 😂 I know what I am supposed to be doing it’s just hard. I am not going buy I a new microfiber just going to use the ones I have. Will do what you suggested and just clean it once before putting on sunglasses and will resist checking for scratches and resist checking if it’s putting a bunch of microfiber strands on it. It’s crazy how irrational it is but I know people with ocd understand so that’s comforting. Thanks for replying!

Yea no problem! Yea it does and we do have that in common and probably have a lot more than that. Yea wasting money is a big fear for me. Sorry you went through that and glad you are doing good now! Yea I am sure there is, will ask my therapist about the root fear. Thank you, you as well!