am i a germaphobe or someone who just likes being clean?
i am a high school girl living in a dormitory (south korea) and ive been wondering whether im actually a germaphobe after spending my whole life thinking i was just spoiled.
first of all, my tendencies died down a LOT after going into boarding just because of the lack of efficiency but what i do goes against what im comfortable with a lot. for example:
i have my ‘inside clothes’, ‘outside clothes’ and pyjamas. outside clothes only for outside of my room, inside clothes for inside of my room but NEVER on my bed, pyjamas only for my bed. the thing is, i have two versions of inside clothes. if i was outside and came back in without showering i have my ‘dirty inside clothes’ and if i shower but its not time for me to go into bed i have my ‘clean inside clothes’.
back when i was in my home country the distinction was even clearer because my real house is clean. however, my boarding room has obviously used and unclean equipment (unsterilised), the chairs, desks, sinks, etc are not new. because of this, i kinda had the sense of ‘everywhere is dirty so theres no point’, so i sit in the same chair i sat on with my outside and my inside clothes (never pyjamas) without much thought, but as im actively writing this im getting shivers from how dirty my chair is. at home this is different as i basically dont sit on any unwashable surface (like fabric office chairs)
also, since i live alone, i have a few extra mattresses with sheets on top in my room and i sleep on those/use those as my main relaxing area when im not in my pyjamas. the thing is, i rarely ever wash them and i sit on them with both my outside clothes and dirty inside clothes and if im too lazy to shower i just sleep on that (since i cant go to my real bed without showering first). i find that behaviour like honestly disgusting but i do it so often i cant find it in me to judge myself anymore, and i know a real germaphobe would probably(?) never do that.
obviously before i go to my bed i wipe down my phone with alcoholic wipes and do that to anything else that’ll touch my bed too, but i dont bring anything in me for risk of contamination.
those are just some examples of my daily life and i could talk all day about what i do to ensure cleanliness. i just wanted to know whether im just being picky or this is serious.