Everything has feelings...right?

[tigerblossom55]

Hey guys, it’s me again. I was thinking about certain superstitions like a broken mirror is 7 years of bad luck, etcetera. And I thought I’d share one of my biggest obsessions/compulsions. So basically I have this intense feeling about certain things, and I mean literal things. I feel bad for, and feel like things have feelings. I know in my head it’s crazy and I’m being ridiculous, but that’s OCD for you. Remember walking on the sidewalk and hearing “if you step on the cracks, you’ll break your mom’s back”? Well, I always stepped on them all, literally all of them, because I felt bad for the cracks because nobody was stepping on them and everybody was making rumours about them. I felt like if I didn’t step on the cracks, I’d be hurting their feelings, and then something bad would happen to someone I love because I made the cracks in the sidewalk sad. Another example is me in the grocery store, or any store for the matter. So basically there’ll be a bunch of nice cans of soup and then one or two with a dent or their label is peeling off, etcetera. I’ll have to buy that one, because I feel bad that nobody will want to buy that dented can of soup. Also, if there are so many bananas bunches, but if one banana is alone, that’s the one I’ll pick. Another example is if there is only one left of something, I feel so compelled to get it, because it’s “lonely”. And if there is only two left of something, I either have to buy none or both. Because I’ll be leaving it alone if I take it’s friend. Am I literally insane? I feel like it most days. Can literally anybody relate to this?

[Albertina_G]

Are you taking any therapy? If not then you should go to an OCD therapist that will help you a lot. I can relate your thoughts to counting OCD in these people count so that they can feel right and avoid the anxiety of wrong things. For example, people get thoughts that they should count to a number, and if they won't do it then something bad will happen.

ocdtypes.com/counting-ocd.php

treatmyocd.com/blog/countin...

[MothFir]

I can relate to that -- I had similar issues when I was younger, but not so much in recent decades. Sometimes I personified inanimate objects the same way I would personify my stuffed animals (which of course are also inanimate but designed to elicit emotions). I felt bad for broken things that had to be thrown away, because it wasn't their fault they were broken and yet they were being discarded because of it. Neglected objects seemed sad to me because nobody wanted to spend time with them. I can't remember a lot of examples right now but when I read your post I knew immediately what you meant.

You shouldn't think you're insane because of this, but if it distresses you because you wind up buying things you normally wouldn't, or in any other way, therapy could probably help. You'd have to gradually stop changing your behavior to accommodate what you perceive as the objects' feelings. It would be uncomfortable at first but you'd get used to it and eventually it would no longer be much of an issue for you.

I Googled a few articles about this phenomenon, and apparently we are not alone. Here's a woman writing about being concerned about her old clothes' feelings:

psychologytoday.com/us/blog...

[Hidden]

I had many of the same kinds of thoughts as a child. In the morning I would pick out a dress to wear that I hadn't worn in a long time because I didn't want it to feel rejected. Or if I were eating a bite of something I would take a second bite quickly so the first bite wouldn't feel lonely going down to my stomach. I don't have that so much anymore, but I definitely feel you. Buying things when I got older was a chore because after I got the book "Shopping for a Better World," every purchase was agonizing decisions. Do I skip buying a box of kleenex because I don't want trees to get cut down? But what if the people who work for Kleenex then all lose their jobs? And so on and so on. Excessive responsibility and fear of doing harm are two of my huge OCD things and maybe your issues are similar--you are totally responsible for making sure all the cracks feel accepted and all the soup gets to stay with its friends. One thing that helped me when I was afraid I had all this horrible power to harm and kill people is that my wife turned to me and said, "Well, why don't you do something useful with that magical power and kill _____________" (a politician we both considered evil). I told my therapist and she burst out laughing.