It’s not dirty—it’s static electricity for me. Worked at a place that had carpet, and I had to work with poorly grounded cameras. Got zapped EVERY SINGLE DARN TIME.
Now I tend to pull my sleeve over my hand before touching something.
… You could try wearing gloves (there’s fingerless gloves, if you get some thin ones, they can be for comfy winter use).
You could try chaining various events—e.g. “when do your hands need to be clean?” and then everything that is “eh” dirty is okay to handle for that time. So, grab the pen, do the journaling, make some tea, do this, do that, etc etc etc, then wash your hands, then start making dinner.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
This is especially helpful! I think I developed the habit of washing my hands so much while working in an insufficiently safe chemistry lab, with lots of students who were less than safe.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
Hearing this does provide me with some needed system 1 verification that I’m allowed to be less paranoid. I treat myself as I must have clean hands for doing anything that won’t get them dirty.
I’ve experimented with chaining various events, too, and that’s a good strategy. One thing I might try in the future is doing chains of things where I need clean hands, and sneaking in a couple things that sound like they might get my hands dirty, but actually wouldn’t, like having tea. Like a sort of exposure therapy, maybe.
I have this but different!
It’s not dirty—it’s static electricity for me. Worked at a place that had carpet, and I had to work with poorly grounded cameras. Got zapped EVERY SINGLE DARN TIME.
Now I tend to pull my sleeve over my hand before touching something.
… You could try wearing gloves (there’s fingerless gloves, if you get some thin ones, they can be for comfy winter use).
You could try chaining various events—e.g. “when do your hands need to be clean?” and then everything that is “eh” dirty is okay to handle for that time. So, grab the pen, do the journaling, make some tea, do this, do that, etc etc etc, then wash your hands, then start making dinner.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
This is especially helpful! I think I developed the habit of washing my hands so much while working in an insufficiently safe chemistry lab, with lots of students who were less than safe.
Hearing this does provide me with some needed system 1 verification that I’m allowed to be less paranoid. I treat myself as I must have clean hands for doing anything that won’t get them dirty.
I’ve experimented with chaining various events, too, and that’s a good strategy. One thing I might try in the future is doing chains of things where I need clean hands, and sneaking in a couple things that sound like they might get my hands dirty, but actually wouldn’t, like having tea. Like a sort of exposure therapy, maybe.
Thanks!