I took a quick bath at 5:23 pm. After that I immediately went outside to smoke a cigarette and came back in the house and it was 5:37 pm which is 14 minutes later. I associate certain numbers with certain things. For some reason I decided that the number 14 is bad. I don't know why but it is. Now I tell myself I have to take another bath, smoke another cigarette, only this time have the time be later than 14 minutes. I know it doesn't make any sense that the number 14 should be considered bad but I got it in my head that it is. Is there anyway around doing this ritual a second time. Any advice would be appreciated.
OCD and Smoking
- Thread starter Rick7348
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Quiet Angel
Well-known member
Probably go around the ritual, no matter how much you don't want to.
Over time, you'll probably get used to it... easier said than done.
Over time, you'll probably get used to it... easier said than done.
christinecanada
Well-known member
The cycle has to be broken. it is tough I know. try writing a story on paper what will happen if you only take a 14min. bath
agoraphobickatie
Well-known member
i'm kind of like that with my alarm.. when i set it for the next morning, the numbers in the time have to add up to 3, 4, 7 or 11... it's freakin' lame but i feel like other numbers are 'bad numbers' and if i set my alarm for a time where all the numbers add up to a 'bad number' then i'll have a bad day... it doesn't bother me too much, but i guess that's about as close to OCD as i get.. i'm glad avoiding the compulsion worked for you 
x000x
Well-known member
Maybe you could try to do the last part of the ritual if you mess up like that. It might ease your frustration with messing it up the first time. Or do something else to keep your mind off of it. I find that if I'm have a really hard time calming down and thinking about something to a point where I'm getting depressed or angry, I'll go smoke a cigarette or sometimes a few cigarettes and have some green tea (especially jasmine green tea
) to relax myself. Sometimes I do other things I like to do, such as: Playing Super smash bros. melee or reading about certain competitive aspects of it online or even about other games, play guitar, watch shows I like. For me it's important to really get into whatever I'm doing to avoid thinking about the thing or things I don't want to think about.