You may not believe it, but everybody’s anal about something. People can be anal about everything from fruit snacks to their furniture.
I know what you’re thinking. “Haha, anal is such a funny word! Look at this funny article, this guy wrote about anal.” I’m not talking about THAT anal. Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about anal retentiveness.
The term derives from Freudian psychoanalysis. Anal retentiveness is used to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others.
From what I understand, to be an anal person is to basically be a perfectionist.
I have a friend that’s anal about their furniture. What I mean is that all of their furniture has to have the same design (if one piece of furniture has a simple flower design on it, then every other piece of furniture has to have the same design). Otherwise, they don’t want it in their house. It gets on my nerves, but I understand how they feel because I know where they’re coming from.
My girlfriend is anal about a lot of things, for example fruit snacks. Whenever we have fruit snacks, she sets aside one of every color and if she doesn’t have one of every color in one pack, she opens another one. To be honest, that’s a good way to eat snacks.
I’m anal about the movie props I put together. My friends think my “attention to detail” is my most annoying trait and I’m constantly belittled for it. Honestly, I don’t see a problem with my tendencies and I’m happy with my projects and how they come out.
Although I’m happy with my approach, I admit it can get exhausting. When putting together costumes from movies, I will spend an extra $30 on a shirt so my costume will look “spot on.” Being anal with props and costumes can get pretty expensive, but my Indiana Jones costume looks amazing and it feels amazing when I’m wearing it.
Although an extreme attention to detail can be annoying to others, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be that way. I mean, if it’s exhausting to you and causes you nothing but trouble, then maybe you should look into changing it.
But when you think you’re nit-picking, you need to ask yourself, “Am I happy with myself?” If the answer is yes, then you’re okay. Because being happy with yourself is what truly matters. Others’ opinions don’t matter as long as you’re happy.