i am neurotic.

I get disgusted when I’m filling up my water bottle at the fountain and the water pressure drops when someone flushes a toilet in the nearby bathroom. I don’t like being reminded that the water used to flush toilets and the water I’m drinking come from the same source, even though I know it’s clean and perfectly safe to drink.

I can’t handle getting water in my ears. Even in the shower. When I rinse my hair, I have to plug my ears. I don’t put my head under water when swimming not even with earplugs. Just thinking about that sound when water goes inside my ears makes me cringe.

I absolutely cannot open my eyes when my face is wet. When I’m in the shower I’ll sort of scrape the water off my face with my hands until I feel my eyes are safe to open. The one exception to this is when my whole body is immersed underwater, but even then it takes work.

When I go to get a drink of water, I have to shake the water bottle first. Sometimes if I don’t have the cap on tight enough it spills all over myself and others around me. I have been mocked by teachers in class. When I am somewhere where I have to be really quiet like a movie theater I turn the bottle upside down several times. With non-bottled drinks like a glass of juice I have to swish it around in the glass. I have no idea why I have to do this.

This one is strange. Ever since I was a child I’ve been afraid of machinery in water. If you take the top off the back of a toilet I can’t even be near the bathroom. I can’t sit in my hot tub alone. Even if there are people in the hot tub, I can’t sit near the filter. If I was swimming in the ocean and someone told me there was a submarine under me I would freak out. There’s no reason for it, but I’ve had this fear forever.

When I take pills I set them on my tongue then pour some water into my mouth. I shake my head a little back and forth so the pill will float, then swallow.

Whenever I have to drink from someone’s water bottle, I make sure that my lips don’t touch the rim of the bottle’s mouth. I tilt my head backwards, place the bottle a few inches above my mouth, and let the water pour. Many people have chastised me over the awkward situation, but I don’t care. Not that I’m cynical of the person’s health, it’s actually me worried that I might contaminate them. That’s even if I have a clean bill of health.

When I am swimming laps in a pool by myself I have to do the appropriate turn between laps of different strokes (butterfly, breast stroke, free style) as governed by USA Swimming regulations. If I don’t, I am afraid someone will tell me I am disqualified.

You know how when you turn off a shower, the water spills out of the tub faucet? Every time this happens, I must put my feet under this water, one at a time. If the amount of water on each foot is unequal, I have to turn on the faucet to even things out.

If possible, I will only drink tap/Brita/bubbler water out of plastic bottles. Even at home, I’d prefer not to use a glass. Glasses in restaurants are not a problem for me. Maybe it’s because I don’t see it poured.