ADHDers might call this a “hyperfocus” or the kind of obsession which resembles a hobby. Some activity that you think about at work all day and have to tear yourself away from to do anything else. I know it sounds like addiction, and it can look like one, but it always passes. Creative people might call it a muse?
I’m just on the tail end of one (Doom mapping), but no longer to the point I’ll skip eating in order to do it. So will probably be moving on soon.
Does this sound familiar? What are your obsessions like for you? Do you get them? Have you ever had one?
My PhD being insanely difficult for me has made me go through a couple fixations or hobbies with a few sticking.
Bourbon has been present the whole time. It went to a big problem to a passion from COVID to now. I am better. After that I got really into China after watching a video about having nice things for your daily life.
Then I got super into rebuilding iPods.
After getting introduced to torrenting and Jellyfin I became obsessed with selfhosting, running servers, and Linux. I had six or so servers in my past home and now two in my new country. Since everything works that has somewhat become less interesting to me.
Upon arriving in Japan my love for Game Boy’s has exploded and I find myself exploring old games. T
he past few months spurred on by an invitation to make a workout music playlist I’ve gone from not running for over a decade to running 32k. Love this obsession with challenging my body as the result is losing over 10kg! :)
Some smaller fixations are blogging on my servers. Taking hand written notes and planners. Recording important moments. Managing household money.