Kids and Family and Friends oh My!

This might surprise some of you more relaxed people out there but being  OCD about your house is a stressful thing.

I feel anxiety on an hourly basis.

See for me, my OCD lies not only in the need to have my house "show home ready" as my husband calls it but I also NEED to follow my routines. If my routine gets interrupted, I get very anxious. A stress level of about 5-6 out of 10.  If it has already been interrupted that day, then more like an 8 or 9.

My problem is
that I have kids. And Family. And Friends.  I could happily go about my day, following my to do list, and not be stressed in the least, if it weren't for all the people in my life. Kids mess up a freshly tidied room, friends call and need a ride, or want to go shopping. Hubby wants... Uhm well, you get the idea.

Don't get me wrong, I like to hang out with my friends, love to help, love my kids to bits and am not opposed to doing things with the Hubbster. Just whenever they ask something of me, I usually have to take a few seconds to think it over. Not because I don't want to do what they are asking, but to reconcile the desire to do what they are asking with this anxiety brought on by giving up my routine, falling further behind. In fact, the further behind I feel, the more stress I will feel at being asked to interrupt my routine. I am sure most of the time my friends and family feel like they are an inconvenience to me. Hubby has finally clued in to the stress and will offer to help me get caught up before he asks more of me.

The ironic thing about this whole mess is that I never have my routines firmly in place. They are in a perpetual state of "Almost There" I am forever changing them, trying to make them work with my life. My house is forever "almost" clean. This "almost" state is very stressful in it's self.  If only I could get caught up/ the baby on a schedule/get everybody to stop eating and or wearing clothes and or moving. Then my life would be there, instead of almost there.

So if you ask me to do something and I hesitate, please know, it is not because I don't want to do it, I just need a minute to adjust to the stress.