Has anyone ever had a fixation on words? It sounds weird but sometimes I get obsessed with the meanings of words or whether I understood something I heard or read, and then that intrusive thought distracts me from the conversation, book, tv show, etc. and I freak out because I feel like I can’t track/retain information normally. If I don’t have that thought I’m fine, but if it pops up, it’s so hard to get unstuck.

The same thing happens to me. For me, however, I’m more concerned with others understanding the meaning behind my words. Sometimes, I feel as though a word may mean something to me, but may mean something slightly different to somebody else. The ensuing feeling of feeling misunderstood is triggering

I go through similar stuff. Every now and then when I'm reading and I don't know the meaning of a word I think I don't know it and try so hard to figure out the definition without using words that feel like they mean the same thing. For example I was reading and saw the word express and I KNEW what it meant when I was reading it but had no idea what it actually meant. So I considered it as a synonym of demonstrate and I couldn't think of what that meant so yeah... You get the idea. It's best to just try and Google it or if possible just ignore it.

I do the same thing. I also focus on a word and think about why whoever made the word and why they did that word, and how they chose what means what. Like how did anyone decide that dog means dog, why that word. I don't know if you do that, but I get what you're saying.

Thank you both for replying-yes, I get both of these things. Sometimes I focus on my own words, and sometimes I get stuck on why someone chose a particular word for something. It can be very distracting and disheartening-sometimes I just wish I could turn it off and “be normal.” But it’s good to know that other people experience the same thing-let me know if you find a tactic that works for you to get “unstuck.”