30DW2-2 - Day 22: Compulsively

I feel sorry for people who act compulsively. For some it's minor actions that often result in humorous situations. But in other cases it's an uncontrollable disorder.

Have you ever seen that reality show Hoarders? Oh my God those people have problems. The subjects of this show have bought and collected so many things there's hardly room for them to live in their houses. Not only is a disposal expert and crew engaged to clean up the house but a psychiatrist is brought in to help the hoarder and their family through the exercise of getting rid of these articles. In many cases, the local government has condemned the house and refuses to lift the ordinance until the house is cleaned up.

And although these folks live in filth and squalor and have collected so much they can't even find their own bed in their house most of these people go through severe mental aguish in deciding what to part with.

I don't watch this show on a regular basis, not compulsively, but when I do I just shake my head.

I suppose my compulsive behaviour, although certainly not on a level like Hoarders, when it comes to collecting things is buying books and CDs. I read about 4 or 5 books a month and I'll buy either the hardcover or the e-book version.

Worse is my expansive CD collection. I'm nowhere near having to move out of the house yet but I am a bit of a completist when it comes to music, collecting rare pieces of music or CDs of albums I may not have bought in my youth to complete my collection of the entire output of various artists.

Mrs D thinks I'm a little odd. So I've started to download my music from iTunes. In this way my CDs are invisible and she doesn't know the true extent of my very eclectic collection.

But I don't think my book or music collection is evidence of compulsive behaviour. C'mon. Some people act compulsively when it comes to washing or shopping or gambling or eating and so on. I'm not like that.

But I'll tell you where I might act compulsively. Yeah, I admit I have a weakness. I'm forever straightening things up. If the placemats on the table are crooked I'll straighten them. If the phone on the counter is out of place I'll align it the way it normally is. If Mrs D leaves her cookbooks out in the kitchen I'll put them away.

If someone's been reading the magazines on the coffee table I immediately put them back in a nice neat pile. I have books on shelves under the coffee table and sometimes people accidentally push them in. I'm forever pulling them back out and lining them up in neat, straight stacks.

Mrs D is forever laughing at this. She thinks I'm a bit anal when I do this.

My unspoken answer, which always runs through my mind but which I never give voice to is "Yeah, too bad you weren't a little more compulsive about the laundry!"

Hey I might be a little compulsive but I'm not stupid.

Now if you're still with us after 22 days I think you've got a bit of an OCD issue having engaged in writing and reading all these posts that Nicky and Mike at We Work Compulsively have so kindly engaged us in. So for the 22nd time this month wander over there and see what the rest of those folks are afflicted with.