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Panic when Walking on Pavement Tiles


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Hi everyone

I m a ocd sufferer and very perfectionist.

I suddenly noticed how I walk on pavement tiles. The tiles are square and big enough that you can walk along a row. Now when walking I go into a panic whether I should walk along a tile row or if it is considered as an compulsion I should avoid this and walk so that my feets are on two rows or on the space between rows.

This is so crazy but please help me on How To Walk On Tiles? 

Is it the "just right" ocd type? I'm very confused.

Please help

Thank you all 

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I suspect that you should do neither, I.e. just not pay attention to how you are walking on them. This is what we should do, ignore what OCD is telling us. But purposely walking on them another way may be a compulsion, as you identified. So walk on them without looking how your feet are ?

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13 minutes ago, kaheath80 said:

I suspect that you should do neither, I.e. just not pay attention to how you are walking on them. This is what we should do, ignore what OCD is telling us. But purposely walking on them another way may be a compulsion, as you identified. So walk on them without looking how your feet are ?

Even if I don't look I notice how my feet are on the tiles. I cannot pay attention because it is in my consciousness. If I walk down a row is it considered as a compulsive act? Can you tell me more? I know this is crazy.

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Could you distract yourself by listening to music or listening to the birds as you walk or looking at the scenery or something, so that your attention is not focused on your feet?

I do know what you mean. I have just right OCD and I tried to challenge myself by not colouring my colouring book in a certain way, but I just did it automatically, I can see the colours I'm using and I want to use them in the way OCD tells me to, so I put the pens all in a pile on the floor and picked one randomly, coloured something then picked another without looking etc.

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4 minutes ago, kaheath80 said:

Could you distract yourself by listening to music or listening to the birds as you walk or looking at the scenery or something, so that your attention is not focused on your feet?

I do know what you mean. I have just right OCD and I tried to challenge myself by not colouring my colouring book in a certain way, but I just did it automatically, I can see the colours I'm using and I want to use them in the way OCD tells me to, so I put the pens all in a pile on the floor and picked one randomly, coloured something then picked another without looking etc.

This specially bothers me when I'm on the phone talking, I loose track of the conversation an become a real idiot. Distracting doesn't work I think.

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I had this issue with paving stones as a young boy. 

I know now it was magical thinking OCD, because I thought if I stepped on the cracks between the square paving stones then it would be bad in some way. 

I didn't know it was OCD, but I did reason out that it was irrelevant meaningless nonsense ( I knew of course when later diagnosed that this is exactly the correct approach). 

So I started just walking as I wished on the stones, as everyone else did. 

I also as a boy had a fear of catching site of silhouetted tall spires, towers, blocks at night, especially within the town centre. I was working out routes to try and avoid them. 

Again I determined it was irrational irrelevant nonsense and gave up doing it. 

The more we see our obsessive fears as irrational irrelevant nonsense, the more we can see that carrying out compulsions is silly ritualistic pointlessness that simply strengthens the obsessional thinking.  

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On 11 February 2017 at 01:22, PolarBear said:

You have to force yourself to stop looking down and walk wherever your feet happen to be. Yes, paying attention to it would be a compulsion.

When I'm walking, I don't know whether I should walk along one horizontal tile row in front of me OR put my feet on the space between two rows so that I'm not on exactly one row of tile. Whichever way I choose, they are done deliberately and consciously and by choice  and I can't escape it; I want to walk without paying attention to the way I walk and my feet are.

This is very much bothering me. Please help me.

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3 hours ago, fighter_jet said:

Even when not looking down, we can notice how we are walking.

Well get yourself distracted. 

After problems with dropped foot arches, I had to wear orthotics and be taught a new correct way to walk. 

At first I was watching like a hawk, but once I got the hang of it I relaxed and it just happened automatically. 

Just start walking and divert attention to where you are and what's around you. 

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I have this too. You have to just ignore it. I assume you walk normally when you're not on paving stones, right? Just do that on paving stones. Trying to walk in any specific way is OCD. I know it's hard, but I can tell you from experience that after you've forced yourself to walk normally a few times, you'll realise it's ok and you'll start thinking about other things, and before you know it you'll be walking without even thinking about it.

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