On vacation this summer I noticed I am a little germophobic

[seekingsimplicity]

Does anyone know how to get over being a little germophobic?

This June my family of 5 went on a trip and stayed in 3 vacation rentals by owner. These places were all decent and clean. My family was very pleased with all the places we stayed.

I feel like I was always on the lookout for other peoples dirt (prior renters) particularly in the bathrooms. And when you are looking for stuff in bathrooms you find it even in the "clean" ones!

How does one "let go" of this issue so that travel can be more enjoyable?! LOL

I don't think I am in need of professional counseling for it (ha) but would like some help if you have it!

Thanks!

[ctg492]

Perhaps most of us are a "little germophobic". My thought is even if it is clean...it is not my clean, it was someone else's dirt. Not sure I have ever gotten over that line of thought.

[catherine]

If it looks clean to me, I don't obsess. I travel a lot for business and when the bedbug scare was on, even then I didn't worry that much (maybe I should have, but I slept tight without any bedbug bite!).

I worry that germophobia can actually cause more harm than good in terms of bacterial resistance and an increase in allergies/asthma. The more we sanitize ourselves, the more our bodies will react to little "foreigners."

[CathyA]

I am that way too. Maybe that's why I don't go many places anymore. One thing that used to work for me a little was to imagine a protective coating around me. Other people's dirt can't get through it. Then, when I get home, I shower and it all goes down the drain.
I also tell myself alot "that's what our immune systems are for".
I've also noticed that the longer I am in one hotel room, the less it bothers me, because the germs are now mostly mine. So I find that staying in one place for awhile helps.
I'm not sure you'll ever get over it, but hopefully you'll find little tricks that make it easier on you.

[loosechickens]

The more we exercise our immune systems (within limits, of course.......the sh*t to hand to mouth disease vector avoidance is always appropriate), the stronger they are, the less likely we are to get sick and the healthier we will be.

We need to think of the necessity of exercising our immune systems with exposure to bacteria, germs, etc., (most of which are not really harmful to us, our immune systems having evolved to dispatch them handily if kept healthy and exercised), like we would think of exercising our body's muscles, so they won't be flabby and will be healthy and strong to allow us to lift, carry and otherwise do the physical things we need to do in life.

We have to remember that we have been propagandized to be "germophobic" just as we have been propagandized in other consumer consumption areas. We are more in danger in this country from too FEW germs most of the time than we are in too many.

I really would try to relax about this, and recognize that the makers and advertisers of antibacterial soaps, sprays, etc., have done wonders of creating fears and then providing products to purchase to alleviate the fears they produced. Try to treat this issue with the skepticism you would treat all the other ways manufacturers and sellers try to persuade you through fears to buy things. JMHO

[seekingsimplicity]

Yes mine is more of seeing a stain in the bathroom and wondering what it is versus being afraid of getting a germ that makes me sick or die.

It is weird but I am not afraid of deadly germs but instead am creeped out by someone else's stray hair in the tub or blood (?) stain on the toilet or an unknown stain near the light switch.

I know it is a mind over matter deal and wish I could not look for stuff like that. My DH and teens thought all our places were great and they were----- but I was dreaming of being in spotless place (which probably does not exist) instead of enjoying the moment of the here and now.

[Glo]

I'm not germophobic at all. IMO, you need contact with germs to keep healthy!

[loosechickens]

Yeah, I don't know what you can do when it's just the ICK factor.....treat it like any other phobia, I guess. One thing I DO know, is that the more you give in to those icks, the worse they get, as I've seen in many friends and relatives. It's as though, first comes the fear, or phobia about something, then you relieve the fear by giving in to it, and then instead of going away, the fear gets stronger, once it's won, and the dance spirals on.

What exactly IS the ick factor here? If it's the horror that you might come in contact with another person's pubic hairs, then you can pretty much eliminate having a sex life with a spouse. Same thing with hairs, or fear of contact with saliva, etc.

Guess you'd just have to sit down quietly and analyze just exactly what the fear IS, where it might have come from, and how it's working for you. If it's so that the rest of your family was able to enjoy vacation without concerns and you found yourself obsessing about whether or not the bathrooms were pristinely clean, it doesn't sound like it's working too well. So might be best to take the time to think this through, because if not, you may find that it grows and grows.

I know a person who will not touch a supermarket cart handle unless wearing disposable gloves. She started with worrying about germs, progressed through cleaning the cart handles with disinfectant wipes, cleaning her hands with sanitizer, to feeling that she needed to wear gloves, to concern that washing the gloves with the rest of her wash would spread germs from the supermarket carts, to the point now, where it's disposable gloves, and I have no doubt won't end until she is afraid to leave her home and go to the grocery store at all.

Not that this is somethat that serious, but the serious things often start with that ICK factor about something perceived as dirty or gross, and moves on from there. I think I'd want to work on this while it's still small, myself. JMHO