The Diary of an OC

I’m rubbing my obsessive compulsive hands together in gleeful anticipation. It’s getting close! It’s almost here! I can’t wait!!!!

To most OCDers, the end of the year–after Christmas is over and just as New Year’s Day dawns–would have to be like first warmth in Siberia. The Christmas stuff comes down and, blessedly, doesn’t have to be cleaned around for another year. But, even better, closets and garages must be cleaned out so the decorations go to their storage destinations easier. Organization in these areas makes for neater tucking and who could possibly live all year knowing things have been shoved haphazardly into a space where they might actually be touching each other or something else? Shudder to think.

I’m taking the whole week after New Year’s Day off so I can reinstate order and I feel like a South Beach dieter approaching a Chinese buffet. Deprivation has taken it’s toll. I’ve been walking around trees and boxes and paper for two months and I’m beginning to twitch. 

Realizing some time ago that I had a bit of a problem regarding matters of the pristine, I had to let go a bit. Either that or be strangled, dismembered, and thrown into the freezer by a family member who probably wouldn’t even bother to label me.

So, I guess I’ve lightened up. I’ve learned to overlook a certain amount of clutter. It’s only for a finite amount of time I tell myself in an attempt to lower my blood pressure. Quickly, I turn the closet light off and back out resisting the urges that always come. “Pull everything off the shelves and start right now,” they plead like children at a Slurpee machine. “No,” I growl. “There will be plenty of time when the holidays are over. First things first.”

Tomorrow, I have to go to work but then the fun begins! Closet by closet, I’ll remove the contents like a demolition expert and then what little remains will be returned in precise order. I’ll tabulate all papers and receipts with the numbers 2006 on them, put them in folders, and I’ll be ready for tax time. The cooking items I got for Christmas will go into the cabinets but not until everything else has been pulled out and new lining has been installed. I should probably paint the insides of the cabinets while I’m at it. Winter clothes and summer clothes will migrate accordingly. Furniture is going to get moved and Murphy’s Oil stock will be climbing along with Pine-Sol. Drawers will be emptied and the Salvation Army had better call back some of those volunteers. Because IT’S ON!!!

The living room, hallway, and interior doors need painting too. And I might as well do the trim.

It doesn’t promise to be a restful week but it’ll be productive and I can start the new year right. When there is not a bit of clutter anywhere and my clothes are all filed in their equivalent of alphabetical order; pots, pans, and casseroles are breathing in fumes of freshness and I can’t see a stray piece of paper anywhere…only then will there truly be peace on earth.