We had a BBQ lunch at my parents house yesterday. My nieces had spent the night. My mom had my niece set the table. In the past, I've tried to partially intervene to avoid germy hands all over the silverware, but yesterday I didn't.
I washed my hands when I first got there and was helping with food. But after that I helped move chairs and tables around and all sorts of other dirty kinds of things and didn't wash after. I didn't try to avoid things my dad had touched. I ate a three-quarters cooked salmon burger, and it hasn't killed me yet.
I even gave my niece a big hug at the end of the day. And I was the last hugger, so I got everyone's "hug germs." Then when I got home I was too lazy to take a shower, so I've been marinating those hug germs for nearly 24 hours now.
The best part of these events is that my anxiety is always a LOT lower than I expect it to be, which makes for a really nice positive reinforcement cycle.
Hope everyone (in the US) had a nice 4th.
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You are stronger than you think!
7 months ago
Congrats to you for doing so well with the exposures! I love the term "hug germs." I never thought of them like that before!
ReplyDeleteAnn, that is so great! I also find the anticipatory anxiety to usually be so much worse than the actual anxiety I encounter during an exposure. Oh, and I'm glad the salmon burger hasn't killed you yet! ha ha
ReplyDeleteYou did some major exposures! Good on you!
ReplyDeleteOh wow! I don't have strong contamination OCD, but reading about that made even me a little anxious, so I can't imagine what it was like for you. Congratulations on completing such an enormous exposure! Take that, OCD! :)
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