Can't stop counting!

[DNC24]

Does anyone else compulsively count the amount of time certain things take?

My biggest one is when I fill a container from the tap, such as a glass or water bottle. As soon as I turn the tap on, I can't help but count the seconds it takes to fill it up.

It's starting to really annoy me lately!

 

[Outdated]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

That counting is something that one part of my mind has always done but I never found it annoying, quite the opposite, I often found it to be useful in many ways, especially when pressed for time. I know how long it takes me to do certain things which makes being organised a lot easier.

Different numbers always call up different associations for me too, especially when playing video games, if a score temporarily lands on a number that is a year I have been alive then it calls up memories of where I was and what I was doing in that year.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Does anyone else compulsively count the amount of time certain things take?

My biggest one is when I fill a container from the tap, such as a glass or water bottle. As soon as I turn the tap on, I can't help but count the seconds it takes to fill it up.

It's starting to really annoy me lately!

It can be a symptom of an obsessive-compulsive condition, but realistically...no harm done. If that's your "little quirk", I would just shrug my shoulders over that one. Folks who are blind have to count all the time...number of steps to locations, number of seconds to fill a glass of water, whatever.

It may be an interesting annoyance to you, but I am sure you've got "bigger fish to fry" in your life than that one little thing.

 

[Crossbreed]

I do not count everything, but I time some things to accommodate multitasking. I regularly make peanut butter sandwiches for my wife & daughter. I found that the process takes about 5 minutes. So, if I am stuck in the kitchen for 5+ minutes, I knock them out.

I do not pay so much attention to time for non-routine activities, though.

 

[Judge]

I don't necessarily have a tendency to count things, but I tend to consider or compare things relatively more often with mathematical percentages.

Not really sure if this is due to my OCD or not. Especially given I spent many years in insurance.

 

[Rodafina]

I do similar things, @DNC24. I rather enjoy it these days, but I didn’t always. Sorry to hear it’s annoying you. I think sometimes when these little compulsions get frustrating they actually occur much more frequently and aggressively.

It has taken a lot of practice, but when a compulsion starts to really bother me, I have to go through a series of mental steps to not worry about it so much. It’s like the more it is troubling me the more my mind teases me with it. I learned this to deal with violent intrusive thoughts, but it works for other thought compulsions, too.

A therapist taught me a visualization that I use that really helps. I imagine a pocket of methane at the bottom of a lake. The gas slowly bubbles out, rises to the surface of the water, and dissipates into the air above. Keeping the gas submerged in the water would be impossible, but I can allow it to rise and then just let the idea go.

That was a little hard to explain and I’m not sure that it would work for you, but the underlying idea could hopefully be helpful.

 

[Vesta]

You have a remarkable obsession.

 

[RemyZee]

I count things a lot....seems oftentimes when I'm in resting mode I'm counting what I look at: tiles on the floor or wall; patterns, repetitions. Don't have any idea why I enjoy it.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I hardly ever count things if I don't feel it's necessary to do so. Might be because of dyscalculia.