Do you avoid obsessions?

[sojourner]

I find that I shy away from certain interests if I feel I am becoming too focused on it. For example, The Lord of the Rings. I read the books several times, got the companion books, Atlas of Middleearth, but then I reached this point where I tore myself away from getting involved further. I didn't want to be "that guy" who knows everything about a subject. And it's not just LOTR, over the years I have dabbled with Battletech, Star Trek, comic books, and more.

With all of them I reach a point where I shy away, and it's not out of boredom or anything like that. It's like I reach a tipping point where I say to myself, "go any further and you will be labeled". Sigh, I never learned elvish, don't know the titles to all the Trek episodes, and can't name which battalion won the Battle of Tukkayid.

So, what do you avoid and why?

 

[Amaris]

I rapidly absorb years worth of devotion in concentrated form (facts, figures, intimate details, and minutiae that no one would care for) and release it in a matter of days, so there isn't really time to go overboard. Then I can enjoy it long term without getting fanatical.

 

[scotpens]

Do I avoid obsessions? Hell, I'm obsessed with avoiding obsessions.

I don't worry about being “labeled.” I mean, I know I'm a geek, everyone else knows I'm a geek, so I might as well fill my head with arcane knowledge and trivia about whatever strikes my fancy. Besides, “obsession” is too strong a word. Anyone remember John Hinckley, Jr.? Now, THAT guy was obsessed.

 

[Kestra]

I've never worried about getting too into anything besides people.

 

[maneth]

Not really. I've just found that whenever I've been obsessed with anything, sooner or later the obsession wanes on its own and I can concentrate on other things again. That said, as the mother of a toddler I don't have the time or the energy to get obssessions anymore! I'm lucky to get some computer time every day...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I've never worried about getting too into anything besides people.

I hear ya.

I'm the same. Sometimes I have the feeling that I'm not getting far enough, then all of a sudden I end up tipping the other way and then I realise I'm getting too far in, and back off. Sometimes the backing-off bit is too hard to bear.

It's possibly the one main reason why I tend not to do well in relationships. And also the reason why I end up fumbling what in other circumstances are the more "open goalmouth" chances - I think I back off too soon.

 

[Jono]

I've never worried about getting too into anything besides people.

Same. I have a rule...nothing past the wrist.

 

[Jetfire]

My obsessions are my friends.

Like what I obsess about...I don't actually have friends to obsess about.

 

[Rii]

So you subjugate your interests to the judgement of others? Okay.

 

[Jetfire]

^
What the hell are you talking about?

[edit] Ok.

 

[Rii]

Not you.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I think it's sad that we live in a world where people are looked down upon for being passionate about their interests. Screw that. I'll obsess over anything that interests me. And there are a lot of things that interest me.

 

[ares93]

you're kidding right? my obsessions give me a reason to live!

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I think it's sad that we live in a world where people are looked down upon for being passionate about their interests. Screw that. I'll obsess over anything that interests me. And there are a lot of things that interest me.

It's all fair comment, that is until it starts to harm other people. I think the late Mike Reid as Frank Butcher summed up my feelings about that:

"What you get up to in your spare time is entirely up to you, I don't give a monkey's. But when it screws ME up... That's when I get upset!"

 

[Dukat's Major]

I think it's sad that we live in a world where people are looked down upon for being passionate about their interests. Screw that. I'll obsess over anything that interests me. And there are a lot of things that interest me.

Yeah, I'm of this mind as well.

And, I'd like to add, while admittedly we live in a world where passion is looked down on, but having many disparate passions is even more looked down on. If you're interested in something and you want to obsess, fine, but you damn better well get something to show for it like a PhD. Otherwise you're just a sorry, scattered crackpot.

I have many disparate passions, and so no, I likely don't know any one thing at a PhD level --- but I'd like to think I know many different things at a Master's degree level And that's just fine with me.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I think it's sad that we live in a world where people are looked down upon for being passionate about their interests. Screw that. I'll obsess over anything that interests me. And there are a lot of things that interest me.

Yeah, I'm of this mind as well.

And, I'd like to add, while admittedly we live in a world where passion is looked down on, but having many disparate passions is even more looked down on. If you're interested in something and you want to obsess, fine, but you damn better well get something to show for it like a PhD. Otherwise you're just a sorry, scattered crackpot.

I have many disparate passions, and so no, I likely don't know any one thing at a PhD level --- but I'd like to think I know many different things at a Master's degree level And that's just fine with me.

It sounds like you're contradicting yourself. OK, you're happy to obsess over something and not case what others think, yet you suggest that to obsess over something requires a degree of legitimacy, as in your metaphorical PhD, suggesting that you would rather someone is happy about what you think.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I didn't want to be "that guy" who knows everything about a subject.

I enjoy being "that guy" who knows everything about a whole lotta subjects. I usually get labeled "that smart guy". Worked fine so far.

 

[Deks]

I think it's sad that we live in a world where people are looked down upon for being passionate about their interests. Screw that. I'll obsess over anything that interests me. And there are a lot of things that interest me.

Yeah, I'm of this mind as well.

And, I'd like to add, while admittedly we live in a world where passion is looked down on, but having many disparate passions is even more looked down on. If you're interested in something and you want to obsess, fine, but you damn better well get something to show for it like a PhD. Otherwise you're just a sorry, scattered crackpot.

I have many disparate passions, and so no, I likely don't know any one thing at a PhD level --- but I'd like to think I know many different things at a Master's degree level And that's just fine with me.

The point in your post I think lies in the fact that unless you are accredited "something", no one will pay too much attention to what you say.
Whereas if you do have a PhD for example, you can say just about anything and be considered the greatest mind of today's generation despite the fact you reached a conclusion/theory on something based on personal observations and deductions (nothing that anyone else with a background in the subject matter - depending on what the subject is - wouldn't be able to accomplish).

At the very least, those kinds of people's voices are acknowledged most of the time, which is sad because you have a ton of people without university degrees that would reach the same (if not a better) conclusion.

I'm not saying this is a rule, but it tends to happen a lot.

Kids for example keep saying to their parents about things the said parents consider to be rubbish ... until a third party gets involved and tells them the same thing (at which point they will go: "my ... I never thought about things like that" and still ignoring the fact their own kid was saying this for years).
An interesting phenomenon happening all the time, inside the family or outside of it.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

We all post on a Star Trek message board. I'm willing to be we all have at least one obsession.

I know what you're thinking. You think I obsess over Kate Mulgrew and/or Kathryn Janeway. You'd be wrong. I only do that here. It's part of my online persona.

But I am passionate about things. Literature is a big one for me. People call it obsession because people now days don't seem to understand the difference between passion and obsession.

One is healthy and one is not.

When something moves beyond strong interest into an unhealthy fixation, it's time to take a step back.

If, for example, I knew what bra size Kate Mulgrew wears (I don't), I've moved into unhealthy, and it's time for me to take a break.

 

[Kemaiku]

I have OCD and one look around my room or computer is all you need to verify it, I collect collections. Someone unwittingly got me into an anime series only a month ago, I already watched every single minute of it, got the DVD's, have a hundred or so megabytes of companion material on my computer *shrugs*

But I can also drop some of them as abruptly.