Help Living in My Apartment After a (Minor) Fire

[Slipdrip]

Hey all

I recently had a minor kitchen fire in my apartment, nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged other than the pot I was cooking in, but since then I’ve been finding bits of soot everywhere and it’s been stressing me out a lot. My OCD has always manifested itself as contamination anxiety, so this has been my worst nightmare come true in many ways. Most things in my apartment got at most a few flecks of soot fortunately, but I just keep finding more and more soot in the area around the stove, and some of it won’t come out no matter what I do. I’ve been trying to stay strong and balance the fact that it is best for my health to clean the spot while also not letting the OCD drive me to clean the same spots repeatedly, but it’s been incredibly stressful, and each time I find soot in a new spot I want to cry. I can’t imagine staying in this apartment until my lease is up in a little under a year, but I don’t have any other options. Does anyone have any advice for how to to cope with this in a way that does recognize the valid risks but also helps put my mind at ease once I’ve addressed them?

Apologies if anything is unclear, this post ended up being kind of a ramble

[deValentin]

People with OCD maintain on an intellectual level their connection to reality, so they tend to know what an OCD-free person would do in the same circumstances. The problem is mainly on an emotional level. They're disturbed by something, and the only way they think they can regain some peace of mind is to remove that source of discomfort at any cost. And the more they do it, the more elusive the mental comfort they're desperately seeking becomes.

In order not to fall into that 'rabbit hole', it's important to make good choices from the start. When triggered by certain circumstances, refrain from engaging in compulsive behaviors. It's not always easy because you may experience some discomfort at first, but it gets easier with the passing of time.

Actually, whatever you do you'll encounter some difficulties. To clean your apartment in such a way that an independent observer would be satisfied requires work and motivation. To be satisfied with a reasonable level of cleanliness requires patience if you suffer from anxiety/perfectionism. To engage in compulsive washing is distressing and impairing in the end, even if you may experience some anxiety relief at first. So, it's a matter of choosing which difficulties are surmountable and leave you with a pleasant feeling of achievement afterwards.

[Lauragbr in reply to deValentin]

Always good advice!