…or simply normal?

Q

Sometimes I try to avoid stepping on cracks or spaces between tiles. It’s as if I can feel the cracks through my shoes. Seriously, am I nuts?

Seriously, will stepping on a crack break your mother’s back? If you believe it will, then yes, you are nuts and need professional counseling. Otherwise, recognize that we all have rituals we’ve performed since we were kids. Some people have to brush their teeth in a certain order. Others say “bunny, bunny” at the start of a new month. Most of us knock on wood. “Many of these compulsions are left over from childhood, and they’ve gotten a little stuck,” says Harvard psychiatrist Jacqueline Olds, MD. It’s a trivial ritual. Seriously, don’t worry about it.

Phew. For a while there I thought I had problems up until I read some of the others little quirks! For example, one can’t stop twirling her hair when she reads. Personally I can say that she’s not nuts or anything. Experts say its just a quirk, not harmful in any way possibly even helpful, it sends out a message to the people around you that you don’t want to be disturbed. Others count everything from steps of the stairs and tiles on the ceiling! (I do this sometimes) While some don’t like their food touching each other.

These quirks were asked by the Reader’s Digest Readers way back in 2007 and we have a copy here at home. New set of Are You Normal or Nuts? query are out and you can find the answers here.

I dare you to go and check it out for yourself! I am sure we all have quirks and you too have one of your own. I guess these little things may be because of habit or formed later on due to some compulsions that have gotten stuck in us through the years.

But whatever it is - you can ask the experts in Readers Digest - Are You Normal or Nuts?