This is a serious issue. Everyone knows that breathing in anything but fresh, clean air is never a good thing. Oxygen is processed by your lungs to support your body's systems. Exposure to "contaminated" air can be very dangerous.
My ex was a full subscriber to this theory. In addition to his constant fears that he would be struck dead by a heart attack (which, unfortunately, hasn't happened yet), he was deathly afraid of gasoline fumes. Yet, as a result of his undiagnosed OCD issues and related germaphobia, he had a driving compulsion. He needed to drive by certain places on a regular basis over and over again - not to get out and visit - because, hey, germs. But he had to drive by.
While I was with him, he compulsively drove through his old neighbourhood, by his old school, past his friend's house and his parent's house and other familiar haunts sometimes several times a day. He added to the list - our old condo, his grandfather's house after he died, his aunt's house after she died (he wouldn't go before they died - because, hey, germs). This compulsion required him to use a lot of gas. So he still needed to buy gas - and expose himself to the "deadly" gas fumes.
Ex logic goes like this - attend gas station. Buy minimal amount of gas (usually 1/4 tank). This of course, equals less immediate exposure to gas fumes which means less danger. Right?
Wrong. The problem with ex logic is he doesn't figure in the time it takes to park his car, get out of the car, pay for the gas, take the cap off his car, take the nozzle out of the pump, put in the car, and when it's done, doing that all in reverse. All those things = extra time spent at the gas station. And if you're filling up, say four times, instead of just spending the extra time once, you're have to do each of those things, while inhaling gasoline fumes, at least four times. Not to mention you're actually using more gas - because you have to drive out of your way to go the gas station four times as well.
I took the time to explain all this to the Goblin King on more than one occasion. I think once I even used pictures. He didn't get it.
Just as mind-boggling - he works a blue collar job at one of the biggest polluters in the state - he's exposed his lungs to even more harmful chemicals every week since he was 18 - and never once had a thought about changing occupations.
Just as mind-boggling - he works a blue collar job at one of the biggest polluters in the state - he's exposed his lungs to even more harmful chemicals every week since he was 18 - and never once had a thought about changing occupations.
This was already the way that he filled up his car prior to us meeting. For a great deal of our marriage, until my son was born in fact, we had only one car (it was one of the ways he could control me). The fact that I would also buy gas for his car - and fill up the tank - eventually figured into his twisted logic. Because of course, it didn't matter if his wife and the mother of his child was exposed to the fumes.
That's logic.
You have to be respectful of his desparate fear of gas fumes though. Gas fumes kill brain cells. And goodness knows he doesn't have any to spare.
Image Credit: [verydemotivational.com]
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