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Obsession with time


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Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it seemed as good as any.

Does anyone else have an obsessive need to always know what time it is? I have to make sure I always have a clock in my sight. if i dont know what time it is, or how much has passed, i start getting anxious.

i also keep track of much time I have until I have to do something (ex: I have 8 hours until I go home...I have 3 more hours until the alarm goes off) I do this for everything...I need to make sure I know how much time has passed and what's left to go. I don't know...something I've always done, and just wondering if anyone has the same thing?

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I also need to know the time if I am waiting for something/someone. If I have an open day with no plans the only time I look at the clock is before I take a nap so when I wake up I know how long I slept. I hate HATE being late for something also, and always end up really early, but I figure better early than late.

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Hell yes, I can commiserate. I do the same thing. Usually any time unless I'm doing something I REALLY enjoy, but I still stress about how long I've been doing it. And yeah, at work I'll be like, "Okay, just an hour and 12 minutes" or during a class, "Just 28 more minutes..." I constantly look at the time. It's bad too, I have had customers ask me if I was ready to be home cause I guess I'd been looking back and forth from them to the clock. I just said I was tired...

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Oh yeah. I never ever take my watch off, and I frequently set timers and alarms for things I need to be doing, and plan my day out to the minute. And then get stressed because I never stick to my time plan.

And work shifts, I divide up into parts so I can count the percentage of times.

Sometimes I check my phone, and then iPod clocks, and any nearby clocks to be sure my watch hasn't stopped. Actually, I'm way too hung up on the time. I wonder how I never noticed this :\

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I do all of the same things..except I don't wear a watch for some reason. I check, double check, and triple check my alarm to make sure it's set for the right time. I go to sleep facing a clock so if I wake up, I can see it.

I've never heard anyone describe this before...I though maybe it was just me.

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This sound lie a cureable OCD. Just expose yourself with no time for about six weeks and your OCD will get a whole lot better. I'm not a doctor but I have had POCD and children would make me anxious until it turned into this theme that I have now. My best wishes to ya!

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sonic, people shouldn't do exposure-response therapy on their own with out support of a therapist because it can backfire and make things worse if you don't handle it well. I'm glad you found something that was helpful for you, and its irresponsible to make the suggestion you make off hand. Recommending treatments (exposure response prevention is as much a treatment as a medication) isn't supported practice of CB.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh yeah. I never ever take my watch off, and I frequently set timers and alarms for things I need to be doing, and plan my day out to the minute. And then get stressed because I never stick to my time plan.

And work shifts, I divide up into parts so I can count the percentage of times.

Sometimes I check my phone, and then iPod clocks, and any nearby clocks to be sure my watch hasn't stopped. Actually, I'm way too hung up on the time. I wonder how I never noticed this :

I do this too. I think my being is school isn't helpful because my whole life is run by that damn bell.

My deal with time is that I have to do things on the 1/4 hour. So don't ask me to come over at 8 minutes after 7. It will be 15 after.

lol. But true. Oh well.

I do this a lot as well. I just don't like times that aren't xx00, xx15, xx30, or xx45, so I always plan things out with 5 or 6 minute "padding" to meet the 15-minute mark.

Hell yes, I can commiserate. I do the same thing. Usually any time unless I'm doing something I REALLY enjoy, but I still stress about how long I've been doing it. And yeah, at work I'll be like, "Okay, just an hour and 12 minutes" or during a class, "Just 28 more minutes..." I constantly look at the time. It's bad too, I have had customers ask me if I was ready to be home cause I guess I'd been looking back and forth from them to the clock. I just said I was tired...

This is totally true of me. Even when I'm playing video games or tennis I constantly check my watch, usually more than once a minute.

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I have a different, yet similar, obsession with fearing that I'm late, I'm always running late, etc. I'll get into clock-checking loops that can go on for a long while. When done around other people, it's often perceived as me trying to convey some sort of subtle message with my body language, but really it's this paranoia that I'm late, always late, always feeling that sinking feeling that I'm going to be late. Unless I'm where I need to be already.

So.

Been late one too many times? Yeah. You could say that.

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Yes and no -- when I'm traveling on the bus I ALWAYS need to have my cell phone with me. I freak out when I don't have it. I CAN leave it behind, but I really don't like too. I've had to work with myself lately not to always have to check the time. I've finally gotten to the point where I don't have to check all the time on the bus schedules before I leave, b/c I have found that freaks me out more (exceptions made for when I have to be somewhere by a specific time).

...sorry, point being that I really like knowing what time it is but don't have to know every second, but if I HAVE to know (get an urge) then I really need to know. does that make sense?

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  • 8 years later...

I have a similar time obsession, in which if I see something that mentions a recent day I find myself compelled to know how many days ago it was relative to whatever today is. Can be quite debilitating.

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