Social Events

So my next focus is to ramp up my social events. I've got a few specific things in mind. Every time I think of them, my OCD says, NO! SCARY! So this will take some effort. At the same time, there are tons of things that my non-OCD self is really eager to join or try. So once I get past the scary, it should be great!

Boring Week

Not much to report. I guess that's actually a good thing, since half of my workplace is sick. I did avoid going into one sick person's office today, but other than that, I have been about as calm as I can remember about sick people in a long while. I guess I should stop in that sick lady's office to chat tomorrow.

Three Steps Forward (and one step back)

Yesterday evening was great! I went to a scary social event that I'd all but decided I wasn't going to. There were people I knew were sick, plus someone whose kid might have strep. I went, I shook people's hands, ate food with those hands, and stayed the whole time. I introduced myself to at least 3 people I'd never met before.

When I got back to my car, I did not use the hand sanitizer I had there, and I went grocery shopping on my way home. It felt great!

My one step back? At the second store I shopped at, the clerk had a cold sore. I did okay for a bit, even ran my hand through my hair. But when I got home, I found I was very particular about what I touched- even wiped down my phone.

So, not perfect. But still a good OCD night. And it was fun, too.

Well, That Was Disappointing

I finished Howie Mandel's memoir today. As far as I can tell, it was marketed to the publisher as a book about Howie's fight about OCD and to Howie as a book about his career. There's an intro tacked onto the front about his OCD, but he barely mentions it in the book. Odd. I remember right before the book came out, he was in a fascinating segment on one of the primetime news shows (I think it was 20/20, I may even have blogged about it). Among other things, he revealed that he has a guest cottage behind his house where he stays when anyone in his family is sick, so his OCD is quite severe. At that time, the segment was a tie in to the book as well. Despite apparently having a therapist and taking medication, he doesn't seem to do much to improve the situation.

Anyway, the book was a quick read, and fairly interesting, despite the fact that I've never seen any of his stand up, and have watched a total of about 10 minutes of Deal or No Deal.

But considering that the book jacket claims that in the book "he reveals the details of his struggle with these challenging disorders" [he also has ADHD] and "speaks frankly and honestly about the ways his condition has affected his personal life," the book was a disappointment. It's called Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me for pete's sake! Total disconnect happened somewhere.

Done!

Trip to the dentist survived! I'm still doing some ruminating about who touched what and when, but it'll pass. I'm currently in the middle of reading Howie Mandel's memoir. I'd prefer more talk about OCD and less talk about his career, but we can't always get what we want. Book review coming soon.

Going To The Dentist

I'm going tomorrow. I'm finding all kinds of avoidance floating through my head, including not wanting to drive there so I won't "contaminate" my car with dentist office cooties, or making sure I pay my copay with exact change so I won't get money back with dentist office cooties. So I guess the cold/flu issue isn't really the final frontier. Anyway, I'm planning to drive and get change back.
Will report back.

A Good Day

Today I sat in a meeting right next to someone who had a cold. I didn't wash my hands after. This is a really big deal for me. In fact today I washed my hands at work exactly once. I REALLY want to be able to keep this up. This cold/flu thing is sort of the last frontier, and it's been a heck of a challenge.