In other words, it's a (not so) veiled self-compliment.
Now, I'm all about self-compliments. I don't think women--especially the LDS variety--engage in them enough. But could we start being more up-front about what we're doing? And could we choose a word other than OCD, which, let's remember, stands for obsessive compulsive disorder to note that we are efficient, tidy, and organized?
I've been guilty of donning the OCD badge of honor a few times myself (though since having a baby I can't even claim border-line pseudo-status). So--despite my opening anecdote--I'm really not pointing fingers. And I'm not saying that anyone who calls herself OCD automatically isn't. There are people out there who actually suffer from this disorder--and I mean suffer. And if they want to talk about their experiences, the more power to them. But let's get some definitions straight:
- If you have exercised, cleaned your house, made breakfast, gotten your kids off to school and yourself off to work by 9am, you're amazing, efficient, driven, and probably under-appreciated. But you're not OCD.
- If you have to touch the telephone pole on step #302 on your way home from work after licking a cement lawn ornament and banging your head a prescribed number of times on your desk, you can call legitimately call yourself OCD. And if you can recount such rituals with surprising wit and humor, you can also call yourself David Sedaris.
So the next time you feel the acronym OCD creep to your lips in relation to a clean kitchen or a job well done, do us all a favor and give yourself an actual compliment--not one masquerading as a disorder. Cause, you know, you're worth it!
11 comments:
Good point....its like when people say their weakness is that they are a "perfectionist".
I am neither of those. In fact, what's the opposite of borderline OCD? Cause I'm that.
love David Sedaris
Man! I'm glad I wasn't that woman cause she just got reamed!
It would be funny if a couple of her children really were licensed psychiatrists and, in their professional opinion, she would do better with prescription medication, but can function reasonably well without it.
reminds me of this: http://www.remarksfromsparks.com/2008/03/plea-for-courtesy.html
Okay, I wasn't trying to "ream" that woman, I really wasn't. She just happened to remind me of a larger cultural phenomenon of which I myself have been guilty as well. She really could be OCD and, yes, her children could be psychiatrists, etc. But you get my point, right?
I used to use the term OCD to describe neat and organized until I learned that many people diagnosed with OCD really don't appreciate it.
I still don't get how OCD is good in any way whatsoever. You nailed the point that it is a disorder, but then how can you say it is a compliment? I get the rest of the post, but I don't get how you got there.
So, I deleted a previous comment and will try to recreate it. I just read about 78 grad application essays and saw many back-handed self-compliments like "My greatest weakness is that I work just too darn hard!" or "If only I could be less of a perfectionist." I think that we as LDS women are socialized against self-promotion or to feel uncomfortable to assert a distinct "self" because doing so might make us selfish, not meek, not humble, etc. ("Self" doesn't have to be oppositional to "wife," "mother," or "professional.") We are to be supportive of others, but not necessarily of ourselves. Thus, we back into self-recognition and praise. Somehow there is a disconnect between what LDS girls are taught in YW (you are divine being of individual worth) and what the culture seems to embrace (woman=mother). I think that once people see themselves as individual selves who are wives, mothers, sisters, neighbors, teachers, etc., then they will be less inclined to use false self-denigration to gain recognition for an aspect of themselves. There -- it is back. (Probably less diplomatic than the first post.)
Maybe we can just say "obsessive" or "compulsive" without saying "OCD." I know someone who complains because we say she is OCD about her housecleaning. She wonders why her behavior is seen as disordered rather than as a strength, i.e., well organized. I see her point. It just makes the rest of us feel better to see it as a disorder, giving us more justification for our sloppiness. I would like to be more obsessive about keeping my house in order, but I would not like to be OCD.
I don't think I have any reason to claim OCD the compliment or the disorder....
My children are running around destroying the house while I read and reply to your blog. In fact one of them is completely naked and I haven't done anything about it.
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