Unconditionally Conditioned |

•☯︎︎𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷☯︎︎•

"1...2...3...4...5" Alice muttered, not able to move from her bed until she's finished doing her routine blinks. After her routine blinks she'd then move onto rubbing her eyes an even number of times, usually 4 times until she felt no further threat and was able to get up.

Alice has OCD.

'Everything in my apartment is as it should be' she thought whilst walking to the kitchen, flicking the light on then off then back on and repeated it until she felt she could release from it, she was always tense in the morning. She made her way over the the kitchen counter, tapping the surfaces as she passed. Her meds, already pre arranged, laid Inclosed in her pill organiser atop of the kitchen counter.  She grabbed a glass from her cupboard and held it under the tap until it was half full then brought it over the the counter next to her pill organiser, she scanned each of the days, 'Tuesday' she muttered propping open the lid and emptying the contents of it into her hand. She placed the pills one at a time in her mouth followed by a swig of water until they were all gone. After that, she started to make breakfast for her therapy dog, Milo.
Milo helps notify Alice when she's about to have an attack whether it's from her OCD or her anxiety or her depression, each are completely different yet go hand in hand when it comes to mental health.
"Here you go Milo!" She smiled, placing his bowl full of meat and biscuits in front of him, scratched his head before she went to the living room. She sat in her usual spot, far left of her sofa, directly in front of the tv and left of the window, right of the kitchen and in front of the door, that was her seat, always had been.

Alice has OCD

She turned on the tv and quickly selected a tv series on Netflix, 'Call the Midwife' it was her comfort show, she never dared to try watch a different show, she knew what happened with Call the Midwife, to some people, watching a series 6 or 7 times would've exhausted the purpose of the show but to Alice some of the episodes still had reaction out of her. She wouldn't try a new series today, that takes a lot of planning for Alice. Alice brought her hand to her mouth and whistled two short blows which alerted Milo, Milo's head propped up from his bed, just to the side of the kitchen, at the noise and trotted his way over to his owners side wagging his tail as he pleased.
             A few minutes went by and Alices' phone buzzed from the other room, relieved it wasn't the sound of a phone call, she got up from the sofa and made her way over to her room, quickly grabbing her phone and waddling back to her seat.

1 new message

Mum
Hey Alice!
Have you taken your meds today?
I'm on my way up with your
groceries for the week,
I'll be about 15 minutes okay?

                                                                                                     Alice
                            Yes, I've taken them :)
                                                             sounds good, I'll see you soon.
                                                                                     Read 10:45am

     Alice sighed, her meds had started to take effect so there wasn't many intrusive thoughts as there were this morning.
She got up and got ready for the day lessening her amounts of taps as the morning progressed.

Alice has OCD

     11:00am on the dot, there was a knock at the door, '4 knocks' she muttered, listening to the taps, it was Alice's mum, she knew Alice felt uncomfortable with odd numbers unless a multiple of 5.
Her mother propped the door open with her foot before Alice could hold it for her, her mother's arms full with grocery bags.
Alice took two bags at a time from her, plopping them onto the island in her kitchen.
Her mother didn't stay long, she knew how Alice felt about food being out too long, she was always independent when doing things.
Her mother gave her a quick hug and went to leave but before she did "hey Alice?" She called to her daughter, who was busy putting away her groceries, she peered up and hummed, "a new boy just moved in downstairs, now I know you don't like to socialise much but he seems around about your age maybe you could give introducing yourself a try?" She replied, not having too much hope in it, Alice shrugged, "maybe tomorrow, I'm busy today." Her mum chuckled knowing Alice would give any excuse to get out of socialising. She said her goodbyes to Alice and soon she was back in the company of her tv and Milo.