Cleaning Rituals Must take bath before...

Eustacia

New member
Advice please.
I have started a new ritual of having to have a hot bubble bath BEFORE I clean so that I am clean before I clean the house.
Otherwise I am afraid that I may be dirty when I start cleaning and picking up things.
So I have to take a long soak before I do the cleaning so that I do not contaminate the cleaning cloths etc.

I know this ois crazy as I have a bath last thing at night and sleep alone.
Today I got up feeling positive cleaned my teeth and thought I do not need a bath. I had a long dressing gown on anyway which covers me up apart from my feet and my hands and face.

I did the lounge and despite my counting rituals and a couple of interruptions got the job done.
I used a whole bottle of Mr Sheen and a whole bottle of silk wood polish.
Smells divine.
Polished everything within an inch of its life!!!!

Now I have started to panic... I should have had a bath before... I have not washed my bedding for a week or so and now I think my body might have been dirty and I should have bathed.

Now I have the awful compulsion to redo everything..... think I am going mad!!!

Anyone else experienced this or can anyone tell me I am being ridiculous.

Spent 6 and half hrs cleaning and now feel it is all for nothing and I must start again.

Feel so miserable. Been prescribed Prozac but only on day 3
 
Nothing is ever perfect and it doesn't have to be

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" - wikipedia

Maybe leave the lounge as is until tomorrow and see how you feel about it then?
 

ImNotMyIllness

Well-known member
You're going to need therapy. Clomipramine is prescribed for OCD when you the patient doesn't respond to SSRIs. Give prozac a shot. It could take months. If that doesn't work, they will probably prescribe you Paxal before Clomipramine.

I tried to take Clomipramine but the side effects were too strong. I would scratch my face during my sleep. And urinating was very difficult. Constipation is another issue with this medication.

But, do get into therapy if you can. That will help.
 

Flanscho

Well-known member
Well, that is odd.

For me it's about the opposite. I think it's a waste to clean myself if I'm about to do housework, because I'll get sweaty and/or dusty anyway while doing it. So I do the housework while I'm dirty and shower or take a bath afterwards.

As long as you are happy with this habit of yours, theres no problem with that.
If it starts to make you unhappy, you should see on how to change that.

But the thought that everything has to be superclean becomes a more or less usual thing anyway, it seems, even though it makes no sense.

No human being starts to stink after a day of not showering, unless they have a serious illness or did lots of sports. Being to clean rather harms your body. That's why children, that have like a dog or something that gets dirty are also more healthy than children who live in superclean households.

Our body has evolved over millions of years in a surrounding that is not clean. Our possible clean living conditions are a very recent thing, that our bodies are not adapted to, and that's why our bodies get screwed up if we are always too clean.

Not to mention destroying the protective layer on your skin and so on.

I don't say that we should all live like slobs, just that too clean living conditions will cause harm.
 

jaim38

Well-known member
I also do the cleaning first before I wash myself. If I bathe then clean the room, I will end up sweating and have to bathe myself again - waste of water and higher water bill. You're going to be using your hands to clean, not your feet, head, stomach, etc. So, if you're intent on preventing contamination, I say clean only your hands (not your entire body) before you clean other stuff.
 

Eustacia

New member
Thank you everyone for taking the trouble to reply to my post.
I totally understand why people would shower or bathe AFTER cleaning.
But I think my fear is that I will dirty the posessions so if I am touching them then I might be dirty and pass that on.
But as one of you has replied.. I only clean with my hands which I have washed anyway!!

But sometimes say on a Sunday I wil get up and sit in my lounge and I have not had a bath then.... and unless I say to myself don't touch anything then I might come into contact with things.

It is so crazy and makes no sense at all...
I just have this thing where I want all possessions to be perfect.

I am hoping that Prozac will help me. It certainly has helped me in the past........
 

ulinerjohn

New member
Man, you did not feel this way when you began with this ritual , right ?Just think about it !! You felt good and you did not have this problem right ? So you are trying to feel good by taking energy from the same source over and over again . And now you want medicine for that ... well ... if you want to feel good again you must break the pattern . And you must do that on your own . So for example if you go running , if you do the same routine over and over again you will again have some problems . Because the brain needs novelty again and again and again . Even with people who drink it's the same problem . When they start drinking they needed only one . But after that , if they get into the habit of drinking , they need more and more and more . The brain needs novelty .
 
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