While pedaling on the stationary bike at lunchtime, I had a great chat with a public defender in our building about our childhood OCD quirks. It’s nice to know that I wasn’t the only one who had to read every single word in a book and absorb everything before I’d allow myself to go on to the next line, or who had to do something a certain number of times before feeling comfortable that the task is done. Altho I may still carry a touch of OCD on things (such as math-related things which is why I avoid math so much), it seems both he and I overcame our general OCD stuff by sheer will in early adolescence. We told ourselves that this was getting ridiculous, we were gonna break ourselves of the habit, and just sit thru the anxiety attack resulting from NOT giving in to the compulsion until we see that there is no negative effect to not eating M&Ms in even numbers, for example. (That one’s not mine.) It was a great conversation as we laughed at ourselves, and I even stayed on the bike 15 minutes longer than I’d originally planned to just because the conversation was so entertaining. I bid him adieu with, “See ya later, you freak.”