Neuroses, anyone?

We're all weird. Some of us are a little weird; some of us are really jacked up. We all have a neurosis or two....or seven; the ones we love have 'em, too. They're quirky and cute, or they drive us up the freaking wall.

So, what are some of the little things that make you and your loved ones....unique?

 

I've probably got a crapload that I don't even realize. Two that are readily apparent to me both have to do with my beverages. When I drink anything out of a can, I always turn the tab around 180 degrees. When I was a kid, I worried about cutting my lip on the metal edge; when I got a bit older, it helped me keep track of my drinks at parties. Now it's just something I do without thinking.

And when I drink anything from a paper cup, the seam where the paper is glued together MUST be diametrically across from my mouth. If it's off to the side or at some odd angle, it just makes my brain itch. I cannot explain that one.

 

i have a touch thing going on. i can't wear jewelry or a watch, and my brain kind of goes haywire beyond any kind of cursory hug or handshake past a couple seconds. personal space bubble all the way for me. the one benefit of it and also exception to the rule is intimate contact feels REALLY good when i get it because my tolerance is so low i guess.

 

Small places, rooms, airplanes, or bars that are overly crowded get me nervous. I don't like to be in closed or enclosed areas. It's worst on an airplane, where the door is sealed and locked. I've learned to deal with it over the years, but it still sets off an alarm in my head that's probably that primitive fight or flee response. If a bar is overly crowded with wall to wall people, I still won't go in. I'd never have been an astronaut or submariner.

 

I have so many neuroses that I can't even attempt to list them all.

My major one, though, that overrules all of them, is that I absolutely lose my mind if other people make decisions for me-- especially in my perceived "best interest". Depending on the situation, it's either total hyperventilating panic attack, massive life change, or, more rarely, rage.

 

Yeah, I have a boatload.
Fear of the marketplace (agoraphobia) being the biggest. It really isn't the marketplace I fear, it is who is in the marketplace. It totally developed naturally as a response to all the evil fuckers who thought it fun to belittle the 4-eyed, foreign, fat kid. Man, I hated being the little kid that everyone picked on.
I fear using anything more than dinner knives for fear of slicing myself like I did when I was a kid and wasn't allowed to use her majesty's scissors so I instead improvised with a butcher knife to cut paper sacks as costumes for an impromptu play I was directing the neighbourhood kids in. Took half my thumb off.
I used to cringe in fear of my kids bleeding excessively due to their cuts (though obv. couldn't run from that) and I hate other peeps vomit (it makes me vomit).
Um...that's all for now; this is making me anxious.

 

I don't like people.

Not in a misanthropic way where I actually don't like them, I just don't want them around. Although, probably still in a pathological sense. You know all those conversations where people talk about human beings being 'social' creatures, doesn't make any sense at all to me. If I were an inmate - solitary would be a reward, not a punishment. It also is probably related to the fact that I don't understand people at all. I've learned how to get on with others mostly in rote fashion, but I regularly say and do things which apparently upset the people around me, but I don't really understand why. I can follow their explanations when they bother to explain them, but I don't ever really bridge the gap to understanding the emotional response. If you've ever watched Big Bang Theory, it's a bit like Sheldon but not nearly as funny.

 

I have smallchildophobia. People aged 6 or less freak me out, I am on eggshells with anybody under the age of 8, and do what I can to not be in the presence of people under the age of 14.

I have a kind of agoraphobia: I'm OK when I've got out of the house, but the idea of going out ... all the way until I have checked my front door is properly locked for the third time ... kind of ... doesn't actually frighten me ... but I just kind of 'can't'. The less I need to do to get myself ready, the more the feeling of 'can't' looms clearly.

I also have SBCDD ..... Sensible Bedtime Compliance Deficiency Disorder. It works precisely like my kind of agoraphobia, but applies to going to bed.

 

Oh dear Zen, you and I are kindred in your second two--it is worse thinking about going out--than the actual going out part--I get a sense of dread that builds. And the way you described SBCDD--perfect! (If I sound too cheery, it is because it helps to know one is not alone.)

 

I've got a few: will NOT drink out of a can - ever. Has to be in a glass - preferrably glass not paper or plastic. It grosses me out and I absolutely hate the taste of an "aluminum can" with whatever bev I'm drinking.
Two: Can't stand "whiners" to the point of getting up and leaving a meeting or Any Room for that matter - due to their BS.
Three: Will not wear sandels unless I have perfectly polished toenails.

I'm sure I have a few others but these are my big ones.

 

I cannot deal with people who can't make decisions. I cannot keep from telling them this. I am considered insensitive. I think I'm actually helping people when in reality they just want me to listen. I hate listening.

I cannot go to sleep without checking every lock and window. If I wake up in the middle of the night and have any doubts I have to start over.

 

I am utterly neurotic about people not "liking" my posts- if I log on and find that nobody's liked any recent posts, I fly into a rage and take it out on the nearest stray cat by feeding it a cup of hemlock (I always have one handy- a cup of hemlock that is, not a stray cat)

So- I'll be back to check on this post. I swear to God, FLUFFY'S GONNA BUY THE FUCKIN' FARM!!!



(For the more sensitive among you, not one cat was actually harmed in the making of this post. On a side note, today might be the day that TFP separates the ailurophiles from the ailurophobes.)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34z5dCmC4M

This cat may drink your proffered chalice through ennui or just to end the pain of living. Or not.

FWIW, I like your posts even when I don't "like" them.

 

I just had to like this one MeltedMetalGlob! Can't have you flying off in rage.

I have a thing about watching news, and all you can eat buffets. To many hands on the untensils.

I have also for many years experienced a certain feeling of things to happen, before they actually happen. I'm not sure what you would call that, but it's freaky.(PTSD)