Do you feel lost without obsessions?

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Yes i do.

I find that I become obsessed with particular books and video games and I feel pretty empty when I finish them. Not so much movies because they're over so quickly and there's so little content. I read Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake a month ago and I absolutely loved it; they're probably my favourite books. After I finished Gormenghast and started on the final book, Titus Alone, I was so disappointed as the third book was not good at all and I was forcibly ejected from a wonderful fantasy world. I always feel like that when I finish a good video game, like my brain has nothing productive to process and think about.

When I get depressed I feel like my obsessions are all "bad things" or pointless and I tend to stop pursuing them. I find that I can't even read when I'm depressed. I sometimes see them as OCD-type obsessions but I know I get a lot of pleasure from these obsessions and I don't think OCD works like that.

I don't think I have ever been without a preoccupation. Currently, I have several of them.

The major constant in my life has been my pets, so I would indeed feel sadder without them. They are a real source of comfort.

Also, I love to read. I feel bored and antsy if I don't have some sort of reading material on hand.

Oh yes, this all sounds very familiar.

Right now, I'm ready for a new interest... Any suggestions?

I get depressed almost instantly if I cannot figure out what my new interest is. After I move on to something new, I'll keep looking at the old things because I know deep down somewhere I am still interested, just not at the time.

My obsessions tend to be people, one person at a time. Some would call it a "crush" but that's not quite accurate, I can't really explain how or why I get like that. After one person I obsessed over actually tried to hurt me and cut off all contact, I did whatever I could to break my fixation without obsessing over someone else.

Long story short, I made myself miserable, to the point that I couldn't function at all. I found another obsession, someone that is utterly out of reach, and discovered what I needed to get back to myself. It's not fun, it's very embarrassing, and I simply do not talk about it to anyone in any detail, but it's what I have to do to survive.

I've fallen into a rut over the past few weeks so I'm currently in that depressive state. Interests that I used to obsess over religiously have been lacking in any sort of appeal lately. It's either time to find some way to reconnect or time for a new interest, both of which may seem intimidating to some of us, I think.

Oh yes. Some weeks I have new ones that a short lived. This week its FIR infrared blankets last week it was Neewfoundland dogs...you get the picture. I wish I had proper productive interests and obsessions!!

Yep without wllr which means watch,listen,look,read I would feel that I dont feel right in the world. Wllr Is my Life writing is just something I do hopefully to pay the bills.

Wow, you said a lot of what I'm feeling. The number one reason I don't want to be 'normal' is because I don't know what I'd do without my obsessions. Mine also change kind of often. When I was little I think they changed very often, the I got obsessed with a TV show and it lasted for 3 years, and it was by far the strongest. I was sad when I realized it was dying off, but it died off when I was busy applying to colleges so I wasn't too upset. Then I got obsessed with another show for a few months, then that died off. Now it's House, and that's lasted for a year. It's a good show and it's one that's still on currently, so it's a good to obsess over (my previous favorites were cancelled.) There's a ton of fanfic for it too. Fanfic feeds my obsession more than anything, I can spend hours a day reading it. When there's none to read, I sometimes can't figure out to do with myself, even if I have other stuff to do. I fear not liking it any more because I spend so much time on it. I know there's better things I can do with my time, but they don't give me the same excitement. Reading fanfic, thinking about House, or seeing something related to it are some of the only things that makes me stim. I don't stim when I'm emotionally excited, I stim when I'm mentally excited, which is a physical reaction brought on by my obsessions. I don't know, it's weird. But I enjoy my obsessions, and at least TV isn't too obscure. I still feel like talking about it a lot more than is normal, though, and it can be hard to talk about normal things when my main focus lately has been the tv writers' strike that could cut my favorite shows short.

That reminded me of something that happened when I was a kid. (Having your obsessions taken away.)

My parents were getting frustrated with me because I would get so caught up in videogames (usually Tetris, actually) that I was neglecting my silly chores. I still don't appreciate the constant bickering about having a tidy room... It's my personal space, not theirs. (And when I was forced to clean it, it would take about a week because I would get distracted by things and start reading books I was putting away, etc.) Anyways, they took my Nintendo away with the desperate hope that I would have nothing better to do than clean my room. Actually I ended up having a full-blown tantrum. At age eleven. I was so upset over it I started jumping up and down, and then banged my head into the wall until I passed out. (Actually, I did that any time I felt someone wasn't listening to me- a couple times I sat on the floor and banged my head on the ground!)

Eventually I cleaned my room, but it was so stupid because the next week it was a mess again. Furthermore I don't think they realized how upset over it I was. It really went far deeper than me being defiant because I didn't get my way.

I was feeling depressed in 2004 and most of 2005, when I was between obsessions.

Sid :O)

yes definately.

I went through my thirties wíthout a major obsession and I felt so empty.

Now I'm in my forties and have discovered gaming, so my current obsession is an mmo eve-online. I go there every day its great.

Obsessions is what makes your life woth living.

Exactly. They do make life worth living and I find it so hard to understand people who don't have any obsessions... I just can't imagine that. What do they do all day?!

I'm currently going though the process of accepting that I'm no longer obsessed with the Animaniacs (hence this thread). I hate to even type it out. I'll always love the show and I'll always defend it and appreciate it, but I'm just not obsessed anymore. It's extremely depressing.

yes. what in the world would I do???