Imitating an Obsessive-Compulsive Person Was Not Fun, Yet I Learned Something from It

Outline

Thesis Statement: Imitating an obsessive-compulsive person was not fun, yet I learned something from it.

1. The day we did the activity was like an ordinary day for me.
2. I think there are other possible activities that will be more enjoyable than the activity we performed.

1. The first plan of our group was hiking.
2. The other groups’ activities seem to be more exciting.

1. Although I was not that so delighted with the activity we have done, it led me to some certain realizations.

1. There is a misconception for some of us about people who are obsessive-compulsive.
2. We need to learn the reality of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

TAYAG, RUTH S.

10:00-11:30

Pretending to be someone who is not you is a very difficult task to do because obviously, from the word pretend itself, it means to act as if something is true when it is not. Maintaining only one emotion or character for one whole day was the activity that our group chose to do. It was more likely to be a character portrayal for the entire day. We did draw lots the day before the execution to know what character we need to show, and the one that I had picked was to act like an obsessive-compulsive person.

At first, I doubted on the persona I had picked because I only have limited ideas about the real behavior of an obsessive-compulsive person. I just know that they value cleanliness and organization of things so much. That’s all I know, but I still chose not to exchange character with my other groupmates. So when I got home the same day from school, I researched a little through the internet about people who are obsessive-compulsive. I found out that, aside from their usual cleaning and hand-washing compulsions, they repeatedly check things and are perfectionists.

Saturday came, the day we did the activity, and at least my knowledge on what I was about to do increased. It was like a normal day for me though. I just did my daily routine before I went to school because I have a class that day. I did my best to show in my actions what was assigned to me, but I don’t think many people around me noticed that because it was just normal for me to organize my things. I hate seeing messy stuff. I think that’s also the reason why it felt like a typical day for me.

Another, I think there are other activities that we could possibly do instead of the one that we did. Originally, our group planned to go hiking. I got so excited and all because it was my first time to go to a mountain! Unfortunately, it was cancelled because of the time and expenses we needed. Hiking will be so much more fun, apparently, than the changing persona that we did, but as I said, there were many conflicts. One more thing, on my own point of view, the activities that the other groups have done seemed to be cool and exciting too. Some did social experiments while others went to different types of places.

On the other hand, I also was able to look at the brighter side of our activity. Even though it was not a very nice experience for me, I actually learned something from it. Obsessive-compulsive is not an ordinary description of a person but could also be a type disorder when it causes tremendous distress, take up a lot of time, and interfere with your daily life and relationship already. OC is an abbreviation used by many people nowadays especially teens like me to describe a person with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sometimes, we even use this term just for fun when we see some of our friends who organize things so much. Honestly, I am one of those people labeled as OC by some of my friends, but I really don't mind being called OC because I know that they were just kidding. I think a lot of us have a misconception of what OCD really is, and maybe we also think it’s just a simple problem for some of those who have it. Because of curiosity, I did further research about this psychological condition. I found out that OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, ritualized behaviors you feel compelled to perform. People with this type of disorder experience recurrent obsessions which lead to compulsions. We must know first the real situation of those people before we say something about them. I realized that it is not good to make fun of this term because some people are seriously suffering from this disorder.

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