exhaustedIt's no secret around here that I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; I manage it on a daily basis, and I do a pretty good job. It's why I can accomplish as much as I do, given how little time I have. But it does mean that some things are non-negotiable for me, even as I politely tell people that they don't have to do them.
One of those things is responding to comments.
Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, kind and concerned and loving people try to grant me comment amnesty. "You don't have to answer this." BUT I DO. I answer comments because I have to answer comments, or I literally cannot forget that I have left them unanswered. It may take me a long time. I may answer so far in the future that you've forgotten commenting. But unless I was the one who said "comment amnesty" (and sometimes not even then), I can't leave the majority of comments unacknowledged.
(This came about, ironically, because someone got very very very angry at me for not answering comments, and left me with a terror of being screamed at again.)
So please, don't tell me I don't have to answer you. That will just stress me out more, and move answering your comment to tell you that I do so have to answer higher up my priority list.
This has been another day of Seanan, living with OCD. Have a cookie.
ETA: Because I apparently wasn't clear: I love comments. I enjoy answering them. What stresses me out is other people trying to declare comment amnesty on my behalf. I can't process that, and so it just makes me unaccountably tense and unpleasant. So please, comment as normal. Just don't try to tell me I don't have to answer you, 'cause really, I do.
March 14 2012, 17:03:58 UTC 5 years ago
oooh, I hope they have chocolate chips in them! OCD gallops in my family, we all have it to some extent. Its frustrating at times because you know that you have to let it run its course, because if you interupt it, it disrupts their entire day. My sister has it the worst, so I have learned how to manange my frustration with it. In turn that has let me deal with my own manifestations of it. But what gets me is that my sister goes off on how her daughters OCD gets in the way of getting things done, and I just give her the Look and say, Apple, Tree!
March 14 2012, 17:34:24 UTC 5 years ago