Everyone has at least one thing they just can't stand. Whether it's a common fear like spiders, or something a little rarer and unusual like balloons, one thing's true: they're super hard to get over.
And a lot of people will go to pretty big lengths to make sure they don't interact with their fear. But when your fear is something as common as color... that's a little more difficult.
But, as Anthony Shurigin has found out, you do whatever you can to make your life easier. In conversation with People, he opened up about his rare fear - and why he's gone public about his conditions related to it.
The first sign something was amiss was when his mom redecorated his room in an "extremely vibrant way". 9-year-old Shurigin had "felt like [it was] a huge stain in my room".
"It caused me so much anxiety that I eventually had my parents remove the entire set," he explained. He regards his condition as "more of an aversion to color than a traditional phobia," noting a colorful environment can impair his ability to "think clearly".
From then on, things changed in his bedroom - he didn't have much color in there at all. "Looking back, I think that was one of the first times I realized just how much my surroundings could affect me psychologically."7
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He Says His Fear Could be Related to His OCD
He says that he's struggled with OCD "as long as I can remember", but was formally diagnosed in 2020. "I've experienced different patterns of obsessions and compulsions, and those patterns have continued to evolve over the years."
The pandemic caused him to be "more conscious" about his surroundings and how they affected his "mental state". "My desire for a colorless environment became significantly stronger." So that's exactly what he did - he made his bedroom "predominantly black, white, and gray."
"Having that consistency in my surroundings is important to me," he notes. And he shares his experiences on social media, posting pictures and videos of his admittedly chic-looking bedroom.
He says he posts about his fear online to raise awareness for OCD. "I wish there was more education... surrounding OCD," he explained. "I hope that by sharing my experience, I can help people understand that OCD isn't one-size-fits-all, and that there's often a lot more happening beneath the surface than people realize."
