I really need some help regarding an obsession

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I am very stuck. I've always had special interest or obsession whatever you like to call it all my life. They have usually lasted a year or so then changed onto something else. However I have had the same one for the past 6 years and it's brought nothing but endless struggle. I really need to work out how to change it to something else. I have never figured out how they change but I do wonder if it's when it gets to a point where I can't learn anything new and there is nothing more to fuel it. But this one has endless fuel. If anyone can suggest anything at all that might help switch it to something else I would love to hear it!

I need to have an this and whenever things get stressful I retreat into it. It's not a case of stop thinking about it etc cos I just can't. But this is destroying my life now and I need to figure out a way out of it.

I have found two rather effective ways of shifting obsessions.

The first one is transitioning it to something simelar, use your obsession in one topic to obsess over something related but different. You narrow your obsession even more and then widen it again but in a different way. For example if you are obsessing over rocket science and you want to obsess over chemistry then start focusing on the chemical reactions going on in rockets for a while and then start learning about related chemical reactions.

Another way of doing it is by just learning a lot about a topic that you find rather interesting which will make you think about it more as you process all the new information until you start obsessing. This is ideal for bigger changes, and you could also combine the tactics if you want to have more control over what you obsess about.

I have a really similar problem - I've had an obsession for the past five years which is quite destructive and I've tried everything I can think of to get over it but it's all I can think about. My most recent strategy is that every time I start to get caught up in it I make myself do an hour of studying for uni (or something else productive) first in the hope that at some point my focus will shift onto wanting to study all the time instead, though I'm not sure I'll ever get to that point! Feel free to DM me if you want to chat, I know how frustrating it can be when you're not in control of what you're obsessed with.

I empathize, my obsessions can last for months or years, and some never really go away -- I'll get caught up in a new obsession and then, when I stop doing that, it's back to the old one. So for me, that's the key to ending an obsession that doesn't peter out on its own is finding a new one. For me that basically happens when something new comes up: forex I've been obsessing about ASD for days now, hardly eating, since I realized I might have it and it displaced my prior one. Maybe you can develop an obsession with finding a new obsession?

Hey

If the obsession is damaging you, is illegal, or is dangerous to others seek professional help.

Im not sure there is a huge amount you can do by yourself. I have found obsessions don't relate to will power or motivation. I can redirect one obsession into something else.

However, i have found i can use the obsession for good. For example I've been obsessing on autism stuff again (hard not to at the moment) so i built a website and have been sharing what i have discovered.

Perhaps you could write about you obsession and then help others with the same interest.

I think you should go with your heart and dive into the obsession. Theres answers to be found and people like you are the ones who find them. Keep you life balanced by following a schedule. But if you into something that means you enjoy it deep down.