PHOTO PROMPT © Penny Gadd
She adheres to routines: waking/morning/bedtime rituals; how shopping lists are composed; when and how she pays her bills; her garden/lawn watering/mowing schedules. The doctor calls it *OCD, whatever that means. He’s prescribed pills to her, but she’s never filled the prescription.
Each morning at precisely nine a.m., she walks to the stream and gives herself fifteen minutes to sit at the water’s edge.
This morning she notices a small green frog on a rock a few feet away – and each morning afterwards. Hmm, she thinks. I’m not the only one who has routines. She smiles, now fully relaxed.
[99 words]
*Notes:
♦OCD is an abbreviation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which is defined [short definition] by the American Psychiatric Association as: a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions). The repetitive behaviors … can significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions.
♦I’m not diagnosing this character with OCD.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the beloved host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
It’s so nice that she at least got that break
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Yes, and especially because nature welcomes her.
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I’ve often said that although OCD is not my native tongue, I have learned to speak it fairly fluently….. It helped organize my thoughts from my native language (the language of emotions and feelings) so that I could function better at work. It can be a very serious disorder that I in no way mean to minimize….. But there are pieces of it (in a mild case) that we can learn from and make work for us. Some routine and structure can help those of us who can get flooded by affect and emotions. It’s all about balance…. learning from each other. Sorting out what the purpose of something might be…. What can we borrow, what can we learn, what can we understand…… We’re all just trying to do the best that we can in what, at times, is such a chaotic and overwhelming world….
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Josaia, thank you for your insightful and sensitive comment. ❤
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❤️
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A nice look at OCD. Well done.
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Thank you, Mason.
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You’re welcome.
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Thank you!
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Great character piece
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Thank you, Neil 🙂
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I think I too have mild OCD, or is this old age. But I find nothing wrong with making a routine and following it.
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Sadje, I think you’ve hit on the message in the story. Is she really sick? Nature might suggest otherwise… Thank you for reading and your comment ❤
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You’re welcome Li! I often wonder myself too.
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Lisa,
Routines are relaxing, as this character has found. It’s chaos that’s disruptive. And that frog was a nice touch since nature has its own way of calming us.
pax,
dora
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Dora, thank you for reading and your insightful comment.
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I liked the froggie taking the air every morning! You’ve constructed a nice story with an interesting moral conclusion.
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Thanks, Penny 🙂
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Really enjoyed this! I love how you linked the frog in which caused her to relax and to accept her routines. I find that as I’m aging [70] routines become more important to me, not in an OCD way but just to make sense of the days really. I’m also aware there are times when I am a bit OCD and the urge to repeat something is real and felt. Usually I can walk away. Loved your writing of this piece.
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Carol, thank you for your insightful and supportive comment. ❤
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That sounds like the kind of therapy I can approve of. Lovely.
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Thanks much, Sandra 🙂
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Dear :Lisa,
I worked with man who had OCD. As I was leaving work one day, I watched him get out of his car, walk a few feet and then go back to the car to make sure he’d locked the door. At any rate, I’m not sure I’d call your MC OCD either. A good story nonetheless.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, I think what separates a way of living from a “diagnosable” is subjective. Thank you very much for your thoughtful and supportive comment.
Shalom,
Lisa
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This is beautiful, and she seems to deal well with her obsessions. Maybe the disease comes in different degrees of severity and medication isn’t always necessary.
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Thank you. I think you’re on the right track with your reasoning, Gah.
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Perhaps it’s the Frog Prince and they’ll end up living happily ever after!
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Keith, I *love* your comment. I ended the tale just before he got up the courage to ask for a kiss.
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I think this level of OCD is not really OCD! Having routines and giving order to one’s life can be comforting. She is not bothering anyone else with it so good on her to make her life work for her. And be treated to the occasional visit 🙂
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Dale, thanks. I wonder if she has it also. We don’t know the whole story so maybe she’s suffered with her need to schedule everything so precisely. I appreciate your comment.
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No, we don’t. It feels like it doesn’t cause her grief, though. 🙂
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I like my routines too. It’s nice to know even the frogs have their set way of doing things 🙂
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Yes 🙂
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Finding peace by a river is so soothing. lovely. For a moment I thought she was going to kiss the frog.
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LOL I’m sure she wanted to after the revelation he gave her. Thank you, “Someone.”
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OCD, an often too overused diagnosis with little to no basis in fact. At least part of the time. Some things are just routines that help us organize our lives, eh.
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Exactly, Bear. Personally I think a lot of diagnoses are overused… Thanks for reading and your comment 🙂
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I think she is doing fine without the pills. Well done.
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Thank you and thanks for reading and your comment, Athling.
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Makes me question: when is a behaviour OCD and when is it practice good for mental health?
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You’re not the only one questioning it, Tannille. It’s very subjective. Thanks for reading and your comment.
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maybe she should kiss the frog and turn it into a prince. 🙂
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🙂 May be!
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I felt drawn into the woman’s mind set, and what it felt like to be her. The positive ending is a pleasant surprise. I think with OCD the individual routines feel normal, but the compulsion behind them is not happy.
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Thank you very much for reading and your insightful comment.
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The frog appearing again showed that even in nature there can be repetition.
I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. I loved the way you brought us into her world.
Nicely done, Lisa. Be safe 😷 Isadora 😎
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Isadora, thank you for your supportive and thoughtful comment. You be safe also, my friend ❤
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I can relate very well to the protagonist, and I don’t think she’s sick. Some of us are more attached to our routines than others.
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Thanks, Magarisa, seems reasonable.
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Oh this is lovely. Sounds like the perfect place to go for a moment of peace. That frog sounds like it understands.
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Thank you, Laurie. I really hope she stops setting the timer for allowed her time to relax.
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Very beautifull structured story that ends with the much awaited moral lesson that is wished to impart. Your brevity and concision make your short stories so very enoyable.
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Neel, thank you very much for your feedback, it is appreciated.
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Her life seems to work for her just as it is. I think it’s marvelous to sit by a stream everyday and see what nature brings. More of us should. 🙂
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Thank you very much for your comment, Sascha ❤
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I think everyone has a little bit of this…I do.
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I agree, Max. The opposite of order is chaos. I think everyone needs at least a framework of order. I remember one time my ex-husband said, “why do you always have to put the dishes in the dish drainer in such neat order?” My response: “Why do you always have to throw the dishes into the drainer with no order?” He had nothing to say to that lol
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LOL….a perfect response…my wife calls me Messy Marvin…lol and I live up to it BUT…on certain things I am very neat.
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My mom didn’t raise a good housekeeper, that’s for certain. But I know where everything is in the mess 🙂 I’m probably neatest in my file management on the computer (and my dish arrangement in the dish drainer.)
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Yes! I keep my movies and mp3s…VERY neat…but I leave cabinet doors open and I’m messy…not dirty but messy. Jen says she know exactly where I have been.
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lmao
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