The slightest thing used to unhinge me. Like, picture the loop on a strap of a watch that keeps it from flapping around once it’s secured inside the tongue of the buckle. Yeah, it’s a little thing and sometimes it breaks. In the bad old days, if the littlest thing went awry, I’d be paralyzed, unable to do anything, I mean anything, like focus on work or even a stupid conversation about the weather, until I made it right. Once, when the loop on my watch broke, I camped out in front of a jewelry store waiting for it to open. The owner, afraid that I was about to rob him, called the cops. Since then, I’ve developed coping mechanisms to address my slight OCD tendencies. Most of them involve clever solutions, like, returning to the example of the broken loop, I’ll simple take off the watch. Sometimes, if I can’t get past it, I pop a little pink pill, which generally does the trick.

(Photo: Tim Duch)