- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
Try writing a letter to your roommate! Don't give her all the details if you're not comfortable yet, but maybe tell her that you like things in a particular way :)
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you! That’s a good idea
- Date posted
- 5y
I found it easier if there were clearly demarcated “my space” and “her space.” Her space became more or less “invisible” to me, and if anything in her space came into my space, I threw it into her space lol. She was remarkably chill about it all. We didn’t even have a discussion about the invisible line; I just began acting like it was there and she never debated it. Later in my twenties I shared a room AND a bed with my sister. There were days when I only made my half of the bed and her half was unmade lol. So it kinda stayed symmetrical lol: one half mess, one half non-mess. Yin and yang.
- Date posted
- 5y
My sister and I used to share a room and she was a MESS! It was the worst, but I’ve gotten used to my own room now so I know this will be a shock. But thank you for the advice!
- Date posted
- 5y
You might want to start seeing a therapist about your perfectionism. What does your perfectionism look like? Is it about overall neatness, symmetry of items, re-checking school work, re-reading, re-writing, etc.? Can you share a dorm room with a friend attending the same college that you might be able to tolerate as a roommate? Remember, a roommate in this kind of living arrangement does not have to follow your rules and may very well rebel against them.
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 24w
Hey all this is my first post so i’m kind of nervous. I’d like to hear feedback from outside sources and people not directly in my life who might be biased. I am not sure if this is an OCD thing or maybe just an anxiety thing but I would love some advice. I am a night owl and the rest of my family is not. I’m an adult who still lives with my parents since i’m saving money to move out. Every night I stay up until around 12:30 in our living room to relax and wind down with a quiet house (like my own me-time) and then go to bed. My parent’s room is right off the living room and they close their door while I’m awake so they can sleep. They told me not to be up past midnight since their room gets “too stuffy” with the door closed. I haven’t been doing well with midnight but try my best to shut everything off by 12:30 at the latest. They got mad that I don’t listen and now say I am not allowed in the living room after they go to bed. So when they go to bed I have to confine myself to my bedroom. I like my routines and thinking about trying to wind down (by reading or crocheting) in my bed feels wrong because my bed is “for sleeping” only. I feel like I don’t have a comforting safe place to relax before bed now and when I have tried to explain that to them they don’t care and say i’m disrespecting them. I’m curious what you might think about the situation and would appreciate feedback, regardless if i’m in the wrong or not. It makes me wish I didn’t live here but I don’t really have anywhere else to go.
- Date posted
- 16w
my roommates are great people and very supportive, but they don’t understand ocd. they try to fix me by telling me things i’ve heard a million times before, and by doing things that actively trigger me as a kind of exposure therapy. i’m very particular about contaminants in my water, but i have a specific aversion to tap water, which is why i have my own water dispenser. every few weeks, i fill jugs with filtered water and keep them upstairs so others can use them too. after getting home from work, i filled my cup with ice water and, for once, didn’t inspect it like i normally would. i drank it down. when i went for a refill, the ice had melted a bit and i noticed particulates floating in the water, instantly recognizable as calcium and other minerals from our tap. i don’t explode when i’m triggered. instead, i shut down. the anxiety starts to crawl in. i felt myself spiraling while i pulled out the jug. i know it sounds stupid, but i swear there’s a real difference in smell between filtered and tap water. i checked it, sniffed it, and confirmed what i already felt. and once that thought was in my head, it took hold. i felt disgusting. i wanted to make myself puke. i couldn’t tell if it was anxiety or the water itself, but it felt like something was burning a hole in my stomach. i sent a message in our group chat asking about it, and one of my roommates said they had done it to prove i wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. they said water is water, so i shouldn’t care. i know they meant well. but when people who don’t fully understand ocd try to force those kinds of steps on you, it sticks. it reminds me of my parents. they do things like this a lot, pushing back against my compulsions, trying to help by challenging them. and sometimes, i do appreciate that. but this felt like too much. it crossed a line. and i just needed to rant.
- Date posted
- 16w
i finally moved in to my dorm and im with my dormmates rn, earlier i touched the string that my mom used to tie my bed foam and i feel like its from our house. i have a really bad contamination ocd especially to my own body fluid (semen), i used to touched things while my hand is contaminated with it back then and i feel like my family also touched those so i feel like everything in our house is contaminated with it. i want to move to my dorm without that feeling and sanitized all my things before going, but after that tie my mom used and touched i feel like my whole things and body is contaminated rn and i feel really really dirty and idk what to do
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