Dear LPG readers, 

I am talking to each and every one of you when I ask, “are you a bit of a ‘panicker’?”

When I was one of those young workers of the world who got up every weekday morning, got dressed and grabbed something to eat on the way out of the door before running down the road for the bus or train, I was a panicker.    I was always the sort of person who would leave home for work or even a holiday after a fraught last-minute session of preparation and then once all that was left was enjoying the journey, my mind would start it’s wondering act.  I would sit on that train or bus and start questioning if I had turned all the electrics off or locked the door properly and no matter how many times I check there would always be that element of doubt in mind about what I might have forgotten.  I have to admit to sometimes still feeling the need to get out of bed in the small hours to check that the freezer is shut properly or that the back door is locked.  

I have always blamed it on the time factor involved, but there is no hurry now that I am retired.  It also has to be said that, while Covid-19 has a lot to answer for, being stuck at home for all that time gave me a complete holiday from most of the worry.  For a year or two I had no real reason to have to leave the house in a hurry, or for any other reason, for what seems like ages.

But now my children (my shopping deputation) are back at work and I am slowly getting used to getting out there again, I have had to re-teach myself my reassurance strategies.

 I have never thought of myself as a sufferer of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), and I am not saying that all the second guessing of myself that I do leaves me feeling worryingly ill but, as old and unhurried as my life should be by now, I do find myself locking the front door, getting to the gate and then turning back for one last check of everything.  

I did get the laptop out to look for the official online solution, but I could only find information about all sorts of other OCD situations. So I offer my answer to what I call my ‘when I shut the front door’ worries in case anyone else knows what I am talking about . 

Checking everything one last time works for me… 

 WJ, Plumstead.