laurenmk
20-02-16, 06:52
I got home from the store tonight and was unpacking my groceries. As I did, I noticed that a box of granola bars had about a one inch by two inch hole in it on the side. My mind started spinning. . .a mouse chewed that hole and it's in the box! (No, it wasn't) A mouse chewed that hole and it's in your grocery bag! (No, it wasn't) A mouse chewed that hole and now everything else you purchased is infected! Anything you touch after touching that box is infected! etc., etc.
I told myself that there are a number of reasons that hole could have been created, none of which have to do with a mouse. Someone stocking the shelves could have done it. Another shopper could have done it. I made myself eat something else that I had purchased and had shared a bag with the box of granola bars. My own little exposure therapy, if you will. I was proud of myself for a bit, but then the worry started creeping back in and quickly.
I tried recreating the hole with another box of the same granola bars by applying pressure, but no luck. That only made me more nervous. I have stared and stared and examined the box with the hole, my rational mind telling me that the edges are too defined to have been from an animal. It lines back up with itself and a hole from an animal would be just that - a hole and not one with a 'flap' that you could line back up. Still I sit here and worry.
I've googled images of boxes that mice have eaten to try and ease my mind. I've literally looked at hundreds of images of wires/bags/food gnawed on by mice. Didn't work. I went back and examined each granola bar that I threw in the trash to make sure there were no holes. My thinking was that if a mouse had gone through the trouble of getting into the box, it would have gnawed through the plastic to the bars themselves. That didn't help.
Every time I start to believe just a bit that it wasn't a mouse, I get another rush of panic thinking, "Well if it wasn't a mouse, then what was it? Why would someone do that? What nefarious scheme is happening here?
OCD is so hard. Thanks for listening.
I told myself that there are a number of reasons that hole could have been created, none of which have to do with a mouse. Someone stocking the shelves could have done it. Another shopper could have done it. I made myself eat something else that I had purchased and had shared a bag with the box of granola bars. My own little exposure therapy, if you will. I was proud of myself for a bit, but then the worry started creeping back in and quickly.
I tried recreating the hole with another box of the same granola bars by applying pressure, but no luck. That only made me more nervous. I have stared and stared and examined the box with the hole, my rational mind telling me that the edges are too defined to have been from an animal. It lines back up with itself and a hole from an animal would be just that - a hole and not one with a 'flap' that you could line back up. Still I sit here and worry.
I've googled images of boxes that mice have eaten to try and ease my mind. I've literally looked at hundreds of images of wires/bags/food gnawed on by mice. Didn't work. I went back and examined each granola bar that I threw in the trash to make sure there were no holes. My thinking was that if a mouse had gone through the trouble of getting into the box, it would have gnawed through the plastic to the bars themselves. That didn't help.
Every time I start to believe just a bit that it wasn't a mouse, I get another rush of panic thinking, "Well if it wasn't a mouse, then what was it? Why would someone do that? What nefarious scheme is happening here?
OCD is so hard. Thanks for listening.