I'm a strong believer in moderation. So I want to talk about obsession today, and not the perfume. The behavior. I'm hoping others have some habits that they've become a bit obsessive about. I want to feel normal. I'm looking for some blogger therapy.I'm not sure what the differences are among anal retentive behavior, compulsive behavior, and obsessive behavior. We joke about being anal retentive, so that's probably the one that's the least attractive. I know a bit about the theory--the normal development through the stages from oral to anal to genital--genital?--well it's been a while since I studied this stuff--retention. At the end we're supposed to be balance. But being stuck in the anal stage seems funny. We joke about it. Contains the word anal. So I don't think I'm that since I don't know how to be funny.
But I do seem to become obsessive sometimes. Take recycling. It's a good thing, and we do it in the Eagle's nest. Well, I do it, and they go along. But they throw things away that should go into recycling. The city keeps adding to the list of the kind of paper, containers, etc., that can be recycled, and I try to keep up. They don't. So I find myself moving things around all the time. Snatching stuff out of hands that are reaching toward the trash compactor. And don't think I can do this without repeating the list of things that don't go in there. They say I'm obsessing. I know I'm doing the right thing. At least, I have the right idea.
Then there are the soup labels and box tops. I used to save the soup labels when my kids were in school, and then I saved them for a friend who was collecting them for one of the Indian boarding schools, but I was kinda glad when she stopped because I needed to stop pulling the cans out of recycling to make sure I hadn't missed a label.Then my granddaughter started kindergarten, and I was back at it. Now it's box tops and labels, and they're on so many products! This is a good thing, right? Except that I've begun to remove the labels when I get the stuff home, which leaves a hole in the bread bags, which means I have to add an extra bag, usually a zip-lock, which means I'm adding to my refuse footprint if I don't reuse, which means
saving that stuff, which means....I'm obsessing. Plus, I'm shopping for labels and box tops because I'm glad somebody's supporting education these days, but so often they're on processed foods, and I'm now reading ingredients lists obsessively trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup (Thanks a lot, Michele!) and it takes me hours to get through the grocery store. Am I adding paranoia to my problems? Hellllp!What do you obsess about? Please don't say you don't. I really want to be normal.
