Obsessive compulsive

At last count, 11 comments on the obsessiveness of NewMexiKen and some of his children and grandchildren. My god, we’re even having former colleagues chiming in.

Yes, it’s true at CYO camp as a 10-year-old, while others were winning awards for swimming, or softball, or even beadwork, I got the neatest camper in my tent award — and true to form I still have the felt insignia they gave me nearly 50 years ago.

Did I inherit this, or was it the doing of years of Catholic nuns?

When I was a kid the nuns had little clickers. When we went to church before class they would click so that we all could genuflect in unison, or stand in unison. Even in high school, I remember we were lined up by height to kiss the bishop’s ring and receive our diploma.

Interestingly enough though, I come out a strong “P” on the Myers-Briggs Personality Type. [A Perceiving (P) style takes the outside world as it comes and is adopting and adapting, flexible, open-ended and receptive to new opportunities and changing game plans.] I test so strongly as a “P” that I was once singled out with a couple others during an experiment.

So, “How come,” I asked the instructor after, “if I am such a strong P, I alphabetize my CDs (within each genre) and have most of my books shelved according to Library of Congress call number?”

“Were my parents opposites?” he asked. [The opposite of P is J (Judging), one who approaches the outside world with a plan and is oriented towards organizing one’s surroundings, being prepared, making decisions and reaching closure and completion.]

“No, I think they were P too,” I replied.

“Did I go to Catholic school?”

His point was that the stong P of my parents (especially my mother) conflicted with the strong J of most nuns. Hence, I was confused.

Coincidentally the person who told me that is mentioned in Sunday’s New York Times in an article about early risers:

“I’m an early riser, I’m achievement driven, and oh, my, has it served me well in the business world,” said Otto Kroeger, a motivational speaker and business consultant in Fairfax, Va. Mr. Kroeger, who says he routinely rises at 4 a.m., preaches about the advantage of getting up before dawn to audiences and clients. “For 13 years,” Mr. Kroeger said, “I never allowed myself more than 4 hours in any 24-hour period. It was all ego driven. My psyche was saying, ‘I can do it, I can outlast.’ It’s a version of the old Broadway song from ‘Annie Get Your Gun’: ‘Anything you can do, I can do better.'”

Which type do you think he is?

9 thoughts on “Obsessive compulsive”

  1. Well I did not go to Catholic school and I believe I was the one who suggested the Library of Congress shelving scheme. What do you make of that?

  2. I’m with my big brother on this one. I didn’t attend a day of Catholic school. Yet I habitually check my light switches to make sure they are lined up correctly in the predetermined “on” and “off” positions.

    On the other hand, my husband went to Catholic school for the majority of his education. He can’t deal with it if one DVD box is lined up a quarter of an inch forward of the rest. So he supports the influence of nuns (and Jesuits).

    I’ve taken the Myers Briggs many times, and I have gotten P sometimes, and J sometimes (my other three letters remain consistent). So, again, I’m no help at all.

    But I can tell you right now that my kids are doomed.

    Alrighty, off to place every photograph I’ve ever taken in albums in exact chronological order…..(don’t pity me, I like it this way).

  3. Time for a NMK sister to chime in I guess. I also exhibit forms of this obsessive beavior, though you would never guess it to look at my house. (In my opinion it’s ordered chaos, but to anyone else it just looks like a mess.) I had the same parents as NewMexiKen, but I only had two years of Catholic school early on, so perhaps that’s why I’m not AS compulsive about putting my things in order. (Granted, I used to have all 465 of my record albums alphabetized–and I still would if I hadn’t gotten rid of 400 of them.) It is my opinion that the OCD gene runs very strong in our family. Excessive attention to orderliness is only one form in which OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) can manifest itself. (Other examples of OCD include excessive hand washing, picking scabs, biting one’s nails, and an endless internal dialog–especially when trying to get to sleep, and/or not being able to let go of an issue when we believe we are right.) I think we’ve definitely got it, but it’s not entirely a bad thing. It’s nice to know where things are when you need them. And who wants to look at pictures hanging askew? Of course my ability to see if something is off-level down to 1/16th of an inch or better does drive my husband crazy during projects. But the trait also makes me a better editor.

  4. “But the trait also makes me a better editor…” she write as she leaves in a typo in on the 2nd line. That’s behavior with an H. (I’d go back and change it, but I don’t have access once it’s posted.) But you see, the very fact that I am compelled to add this correction proves how OCD I really am.

  5. Oh God, I did it again!

    “But the trait also makes me a better editor…” she write as she leaves”

    Naturally that should say “she writes” with an S. (I swear I reread both posts before publishing them–I guess I need to learn to hit preview first.) I suppose this is a perfect example, not only of classic OCD behavior, but also of the adage, “Haste makes waste.” Maybe I’m not as good an editor as I thought I was, either. (Of course I was trying to hurry because I am at work and my break should be over now.)

  6. I was going to comment earlier but I was too busy merging my “to do” lists. When that was complete, I had to reorder and generally revise the master copy, which to be honest ended up a total rewrite. First item, as always, “organize”.

    Then I had to spend some time rethinking how I categorize my password list. (For the curious, my current scheme goes by service; for example, email portals, financial accounts, shopping websites, utility accounts, etc. Within service, it gets tricky. For shopping, it’s further broken down into book stores, travel sites, auction sites, so forth. Yes, it bothers me that “travel sites” doesn’t have a better fit than with “shopping”, but I just can’t nail down a universal solution. Alphabetical is so 1993.)

    Of course, I’m joking about all this. Ha ha.

  7. Before Katie entered my life, my books were in impeccable order – I could lay my finger on any book in an instant. They were all lined up in exact alignment and the world (at least mine) was at peace. Along came the worldwind and nothing has been the same since. Every once in a while I start to hyperventilate a little just looking at the chaos. Before she was born, I asked her father what he was going to do when a rug rat was running around touching all of his guitars and he replied, “Sit her down and teach her to play.” I answered, “Good, cause we’re running chicken wire around the bookcases!” Ah, the best layed plans……..

  8. Amy, I can think of many worse things than growing up in a forest of books and guitars.

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