Do you go through 'phases of obsession' ??

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I tend to get obsessed with things easily but they only come in phases

I have one long term obsession which is Music, but I find I go through mini phases.

First it was Metallica, then Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, then Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page .... (then I had a year where I got obsessed with comedians & comedy, to the point where I persued it) .. Then I got obsessed with Graham Coxon from Blur. Now I'm obsessed with Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett... During these phases I tend to have the need to gather every piece of information available about the obsession which I then disperse by telling everyone about my findings.

And ever since I was very young I was obsessed with biology. I still find it very fascinating and love watching documentaries about it.

Can anyone else relate to this?

Ah-yuh. And it's music too. And comedy. Imagine that.

The thing is it's been going on now for my entire life, and none of it's really gone away totally. Looking back now, it's less like "phases" than it is like waves in an ocean that never stops churning. It is ALL part of who I am. I love it!

I am kind of discontented that I can only obsess about one or two things at the same time. I have a long list of things that I want to obsess over, but I have only obsessed over a few things on the list, because my level of obsession is very obsessive, so I don't have enough brrrainzzz to obsess over more than one or two things in same time period.

I've been through phases of obsessions as well. There was a time that I used to watch a lot of TV. My very first TV phase was Family Feud. I had to watch it every night before bed. My second phase was The Dukes of Hazard. I had to watch the live action one on Friday Nights and the cartoon one on Saturday Mornings. My next phase was Hulk Hogan's Rockin' Wrestling. I had to watch that cartoon every Saturday Morning. I went through a phase where I had to watch every episode of The Cosby Show. Who's The Boss? was another show that I couldn't get enough of. Mr. Belvedere was my favourite show for a few years and I had to watch that, every Friday night. I had to watch every episode of The Wonder Years and Designing Women. I also had to watch every episode of Cheers, Family Matters, Sister - Sister, Boy Meets World and Seinfield. A reoccurring TV phase that kept coming back to me and it still does, is The Monkees.

I have one obsession at the time.

Can't focus on more than one subject somehow. I do get "dangerously good" at whatever I am doing since I can put so much focus into it though.

I have my main obsession at all times which is military history, but I have loads of smaller mini-obsessions all the time. Music obsessions come and go with me. I've always been massive on Metallica and Iron Maiden, but I'm currently doing Anthrax to death ( my 11 week old son likes Anthrax too...at least he stops crying when I put them on) and also a little bit of Prince, Prodigy and Kraftwerk too (strange mix I know).

The smaller obsessions usually start out of nothing, perhaps a memory or a transient thought and then they just consume me for anything from a few days to months until one day I'll no longer be as interested. I had a massive Beatles thing about 5 months ago and went totally ga-ga over anything I could find. Once I'd satisfied that they kind of just melted into the background again and now it's just something I like rather than something I absolutely must do.

A few years ago I had a massive upsurge of interest in Bernard Cornwell novels. I bought and read everything he's ever written in the space of six weeks (about 45 books or so) and did nothing else at the time. My mother who I was living with at the time had to take a lead and remind me to eat, drink etc because I was so absorbed. I usually find, especially with books that once I've read everything an author has put out I lose complete interst and don't go back to it.

Does anyone else get so completely caught up in these passing obsessions? They're bad for the old husband/wife relationship when they occur and I try to control them more now, but still, if I get hooked, I simply can't help it and the missus will really get annoyed with me when it occurs

Yes, I've always been obsessed with drawing and domestic animal behavior/nutrition. I hope to get into sculpting and redecorating old furniture this summer.

Yes. And yes again for certain artists/groups in music..

Mine was Jim Morrison & the Doors. Love their music, speaks directly to me.
( and I have my pet theories on THAT & HIM LOL)

Sincerely,
Matthew

Oh yes I have phases of obsessions!! My main one photography is on going all the time, closely followed by music and dinosaurs!!

But I have loads of phases of obsessions, and they are not generally related. For instance, It's my other half's 40th birthday coming up soon, so I have decided to make her a huge fancy birthday cake. So for the few weeks all things cake decorating will be one of my brief obsessions!

I've also got a couple of obsessions that I'll lose interest in for a while, then suddenly dive right back in to. Ghosts and the paranormal are one of them I will 'pick up and put down' a lot. It's usually sparked when I see an advert for a new ghost program or see a book I haven't got or if someone mentions it in conservation.

I have long-term obsessions (or special interests) which I will revisit in bursts of obsessive phases. Rarely will I have a phase where I am interested in something, only to abandon it entirely.

Some of my special interests/obsessions:

Macrophotography
Art
Veganism
Knives
Coins
Sparkly/colorful blinking things
Jumping spiders
Cats
Harry Potter
The Hunger Games
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Xena

Right now, I'm obsessing over Xena after an obsessive phase over knives, which is starting to wane.
As a child I'd watch my favorite movies over and over again, which is something I still do, especially with TV shows. If I like a song, I will play it on a loop. I also like fan-made mashup videos on YouTube, which I both enjoy creating and watching; I'll download them and watch them over and over again on my mp3 player, particulalry when I am bored or just to cheer me up (escapism is very important to me).

lets see
As a kid....it was dinosaurs then animals (that one got deep...I spent time in a mental facility for barking at ppl, biting people and eating grass in the front yard)
In middle school it was my hair....I would spend 4-5 hours in front of the mirror getting my hair perfect before bed....go figure

From 14-16 it was heavy metal...spent hours messing up my hair (head banging) before bed

16-20's was drawing and painting
late 20's to mid 30's (present) is fiber art

My latest thing is hand spun, hand dyed yarn which costs a fortune. I spent 150 dollars on 8 skiens of it just recently.
For comparison 8 skiens of machine made yarn would cost about 50-60 dollars at walmart.
I can talk about yarn for as long as someone will listen

I am learning to spin my own yarn now...tis cheaper...and a budding obsession.

next stop is learning how to dye my own roving (fiber before it is spun)

However my longest lasting obsession is poetry....21 years this spring

Jojo