OCD

  Every morning I watch, along with all the other commuters standing on the train platform, as a fellow commuter pulls into a parking spot, gets out of his SUV, and then proceeds to walk around his car checking all his door handles and tapping on all his windows.  In the silent morning air, everyone can hear the pulling and the tapping.  Seeing this obsessive compulsive behavior, I started thinking about whether I had any obsessive compulsive behaviors.  When I get out of my own car and lock my car doors, I always have to peer through the car window to make sure the doors are locked.  That could be viewed as a little obsessive compulsive.  I also thought of the routines that I go through every day and how I prefer to do some daily activities a certain way, every single day.
  I've read that dogs also feel comfortable in routines.  When taken out of the comfort of a routine and the "expected", some dogs can get anxious and irritable.  Humans seem to need obsessive compulsive behaviors and routines to feel comfortable and to curb anxiety.  Humans seem to need that sense of control in this chaotic world, even if it means pulling on car doors and tapping on car windows in front of a few dozen people.