Recently I've been finding that I'm becoming a bit of a germaphobe, and that I'm constantly worried about catching something from my every day activities. I go to the gym, and today I was using a new machine, and the palms of my hands began to hurt (I need to buy athletic gloves I guess haha). I looked at them and saw that there were two little nicks in the skin right at the base of the ring finger on the left hand and middle finger on the right hand. They aren't bleeding but they are sore.
I started getting paranoid because I wondered if I could possibly catch something, like maybe hepatitis or HIV from the gym equipment? They clean them pretty often, but it is a popular gym and all the machines are constantly being used. and the fact that my hands had open cuts in the palms is making me even more scared.
I'm trying to calm myself, saying that if it was that easy to catch HIV or other STDs from casual touch that everyone in the world would have it, but I can seem to make myself seem reason. Is it possible to catch anything like sicknesses from the machines? How can I protect myself? and more importantly, how can I stop being so germaphobic? it's a habit that started forming the last year and it's beginning to badly impact my life.
thank you!