Object obsession

Post Reply New Topic

Ok so I have this thing where I will kind of fixate on an item, sometimes for a few years until I get it. Seems like I have a part of my mind always thinking about it, whatever it may be. My mind visualizes it, sort of like a 3D model and I sort of play with the image in my mind, spinning it around, imagining what it feels like and how awesome it will be to have it. Of course I eventually get it and play with it for a couple weeks and then I add it to pile of stuff then conjure up something else.

Anybody else do that?

Yeah! Although this doesn't happen that much now for me as I'm older
and only really buy things that are useful and thus I use relatively frequently.

But for random objects that may be a little fascinating, I put them
in draws and boxes and things and sometimes revisit them for nostalgia purposes.

It would help if you gave a specific example though.
A childhood toy?
Does this only happen with things you haven't got yet?

Yes, things that I don't have. For the most part its hobby items, tools, cameras, electronics, etc. I like to make things. Like game tables, props, etc.

Yeah it's very strange.
With some objects I hardly ever use and only have slight value to me (nostalgia-wise)
I still want to store them away just in case I need or want them again.
It's weird because I hardly ever use 80% or more of my belongings.

But I can't relate well with what you said about visualising it in 3D.
I'm not sure I've experienced that. (I find it difficult to vividly play with things
spatially in 3D in my mind, it feels very forced and faded.)

If I wanted a games console, I don't think I'd visualise in 3D and spin it around.
Instead, I may just occasionally briefly imagine myself playing with it or admiring the
texture/shine or the gameplay graphics or something. Maybe it's a bad example since a console would have more than one component and may
not be as interesting or easy to play around with in 3D.

But if thinking about them frequently bothers you, maybe you could
make a model of it and admire it like that or better yet take your mind off it and do something else.
Maybe it's just the shape you find interesting rather than the object's purpose?
Does a cuboid object have the same effect on you as a digital camera?
Or maybe it's more complex than that, maybe weight is also a factor. (Chunky heavy things tend to be admirable
to hold for some reason. Light things, not so much.)

I don't do what the OP does, but I do have an undeniable fascination with some objects, particularly video-related.

I have 5 PS2s for instance, not because I need them all, but probably because I like the combination of different sizes and colours.

I saw an old Ferguson Videostar VCR in a shop a few days ago. It looked in fabulous condition, and I'll probably end up buying it. Unlikely ever to use it, though!

The visualizing thing is not really what I was aiming at but rather the "desire/need/want" and if I have it then I will feel mentally recharged with the sensation of novelty and of "completeness". It's not an issue, other than occasional monetary waste. But it does make me feel like a junkie of sorts. A targeted shop-o-holic. Or seeking a Fix, maybe a flush of dopamine. I know the sensation will fade though once I have absorbed the feeling of having and using it and then I will set whatever it is aside perhaps to never use it again or come back to it later.

The 3D thing...I'm a visual person, terrible with numbers. Thought I was going to be an artist as a youth. Just part of my visual mind.

I do this all the time. I do it mostly with the iPhone when I dream about getting one instead of my Android. Often, I do the 3D thing with food items before I eat them. I will imagine the top of the food bowl and all the shapes that it has, and then the inside and the bottom branching out to the shape of the bowl and the bottom of it, then the table, etc.

I also do this when my room is clean, where I graze over the entire room in a certain object--order so I can obsess about it. I think it is a visual stim thing.

I'm the same way!

I'll become really obsessed with having an object and if it's $50 or less I will order it online. I almost always lose interest in it before it even arrives on my doorstep, and when the time comes to open the package, I'm always underwhelmed.

I have roughly 8 - 10 plastic totes/containers that are loaded with stuff that I just had to have at some point.

My brother speculates that I enjoy shopping so much because it's the only thing that gives me a thrill/emotional high in my otherwise routine and uneventful life (I rarely ever leave the house anymore). The way I see it, some people get thrills from jumping out of airplanes or riding roller-coasters, but I get my kicks from spending $$$.

I'm obsessed with anything that resembles a pea. I've had a thing for peas since I was really little. There was a children's book at the developmental preschool that I went to and one of the pages was an illustration of a man who sneezed out a whole bunch of peas that I liked to look at.