Stories from the Life of an Anxious Mind: The Oven That Didn’t Get Cleaned Before Its First Bake

I have an anxious friend — just like me.
For years, she used a classic gas oven. No big worries, except for the usual mental checklist: Did I turn off the gas? Do I smell something? Or is it just me again?

Recently, she upgraded to an electric oven — a big step, a small victory, a sign of modern living.
Proud of her purchase, she called me right away, showing me over video that she had just put a pie in the oven.

And, of course, as a true obsessive-compulsive type, my first question was:
“Did you clean it first? Wipe it with a damp cloth? Run the self-clean cycle?”

Her answer: No.

And that’s when the mental spiral began.
The anxious train of thought left the station at full speed:
What if there are chemical residues inside? What if they used industrial oil or paint? What if something from the packaging got stuck and is now melting into the pie?

You can probably guess how that story ended — the pie didn’t make it.
It went straight into the trash. Not because it was bad, but because an anxious mind takes no chances.

But it didn’t end there.
Her dad — a practical man, but a worrier in his own way — joined the scene.
He insisted: “You should always unplug that oven when you’re done. Don’t ever leave it plugged in! It could break or even catch fire!”

So she called me again, half laughing, half panicking:
“You’re on speaker — tell me honestly, do YOU unplug your oven every time you use it?”

I laughed and said,
“No way. The outlet is behind the cabinet. And even if it weren’t, I’d only unplug it if I were leaving for vacation.”

Her dad, hearing that, sounded satisfied.
He ended the call with a final reminder: “Okay then, but when we go on vacation — don’t forget to unplug it!”

We both laughed — that kind of laughter that comes after the storm, when you realize how ridiculous your fears can sound… but only in hindsight.

Stories of anxious people.
Stories that make perfect sense only to those who overthink, who imagine worst-case scenarios, who triple-check if they really turned the iron off.

Sometimes I think, if we collected them all, we could make a comedy film — an honest one, about people who care too much, who live every small detail at full emotional volume.

And yet… when you’re in the middle of that anxious moment, even the smallest thing feels like the ceiling about to collapse — your own version of the the proverbial last straw.

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Maybe you’ve been there too.
Have you ever thrown away food or redone something, not because it was wrong, but because you couldn’t shake the “what if”? If yes — you’re not alone. And maybe that’s the part that’s worth laughing about together.