I'm new here … didn't realize I had OCD until recently. My live in brought it to my attention. I knew I had secret habits. Always wanted to ask at least one other person if they had the same habits but decided against it. Didn't want to seem weird or crazy. He knows I obsess over cleanliness. Can't have a puppy because the feces freaks me out – what am I going to do when I have children? If I see a spot on the carpet I will clean it & clean it & clean it but it never seems clean enough. It will bother me so I wait until the coast is clear and no one is looking and clean it again! I count the cracks in sidewalks and say to myself "if I can make it to the next 3 cracks before that car comes I won't die" or something stupid like that. My friends think that I have poor time management or that I am a perfectionist and that is why I take so long to get dressed or why I am always late. The real reason is because of my rituals or sometimes I stand in the mirror and comb my hair over and over again even though at the end of the day it still looks the same! But I have to comb it 5 more times before I can leave (craziness!!) I brushed my teeth like every 30 minutes one day (didnt even realize I was doing it or that it was abnormal) and one time I sprayed a whole can of air freshener in a few hours because I couldn't stand the smell in the room. The funny thing is I never realized it was a problem or abnormal until my boyfriend brought it to my attention. At that point I felt embarrassed but the rituals didn't stop – I just learned how to hide them 🙂 I think over and over about situations, replaying occurences in my mind, analyzing and obsessing. I even lose sleep sometimes, up late at night, obsessing over one thing or another. If I eat a sandwich or burger everything has to be in order (mayo on the bottom bun, ketchup, mustard on the top bun, then cheese on top of the meat, lettuce on top of cheese, tomato on top of lettuce, onion on top of tomato, etc) then I take a knife and cut it neatly and eat it piece by piece. If I order a sub from subway its even worse! I go to the same place on my lunch break almost every day and order the same thing in the same order each and every time. So ashamed that I lie when people ask me where I went for lunch or what I had to eat bc I dont want them to think I'm strange. When I lived alone I would check the door to make sure it was locked like 3 or 4 times before going to bed or walk through my house looking in closets and even behind the shower curtain to make sure no one was there. I had to start sleeping with a hammer behind my bed in order to provide a sense of peace and comfort. My friends just think I'm scary but now I know it's OCD. NOBODY knows some of the other secret rituals (like the counting or the repeat behavior). Well enough for now. It's great to be able to share and finally know I am not alone.