Closing door
Roselyne Awiti
Worth Noting:
- I know you are most likely afraid of thieves effortlessly getting into your house worth thousands of shillings. At least they need to struggle to carry your items! Well, walk back to your house and confirm if it will give you peace.
- Interestingly, you find out it is locked. This time, you have to play with the door hinge or pull the padlock so many times to avoid this kind of horror; I mean, the imaginations of thieves breaking into your house and sweeping it empty. Such a feeling can make you uneasy all time and lower your concentration in whatever task you are undertaking.
You woke up very early in the morning to prepare yourself for work or class. You organize your items after shower and pick your paraphernalia, lock your door and dash off. However, few meters from your house, a question tickles your mind; “did I lock my door properly? Leave the properly part aside, did I lock it?”
Since you are almost late to whatever place you are to going to, you choose to proceed with your journey and probably come and do the confirmation later. If it’s an office setup where the rules are tight, you have to look for a strong excuse to come back home only to confirm whether your door is locked or not.
But wait, do you think you have anything expensive enough to warrant this kind of anxiety? Is it your four-legged wooden table or your 24-inch flat screen TV? People have better and fancier ‘stuff’ than those!
I know you are most likely afraid of thieves effortlessly getting into your house worth thousands of shillings. At least they need to struggle to carry your items! Well, walk back to your house and confirm if it will give you peace.
Interestingly, you find out it is locked. This time, you have to play with the door hinge or pull the padlock so many times to avoid this kind of horror; I mean, the imaginations of thieves breaking into your house and sweeping it empty. Such a feeling can make you uneasy all time and lower your concentration in whatever task you are undertaking.
You promise to do the locking carefully next time to avoid such trauma. Unfortunately, you still make this mistake recurrently. You are now wondering whether you have a disorder. Do not worry. You are well. Such uncertainties could be an adverse effect of locking the door while your mind is on autopilot.
The autopilot is a condition of the mind that prompts us to act without thinking usually because you have done certain tasks repetitively. Talk of daily duties like switching off the gas or lights, closing car windows and closing taps.
Do you ever leave your house and then start having a mental picture of your house burning thinking you didn’t switch off the gas? Or interrupt your sleep and wake up just to confirm whether you closed the door and windows when you actually did?
The ultimate solution to this problem is fully concentrating when performing these basic tasks or do them and confirm. The mental picture of you confirming these actions will drive away your anxiety a few minutes after doing them.
If it’s a door, push or kick it several times. If it doesn’t open, walk away freely. For gas, you can light a matchbox and if the house fails to light up, walk away, you are responsible.
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Mt Kenya Times ePAPER August 28, 2026
- Kenya is losing fifteen mothers a day — and the numbers are getting worse
- Consolata International University opens new academic year with call to humanise artificial intelligence
- Written in gold, wielded in iron: Katiba@16 and the realities of power
- Mang’eni challenges universities to put entrepreneurship at the heart of learning
About the Author
