Does anyone else have passing obsessions?

[Probablier]

I do, for as long as I can remember. It can be any kind of subject- true crime cases, a specific period in history, an iconic figure who has passed on. I will spend a few weeks where the topic in question will occupy the front of my mind when it is otherwise idle, and I will seek out information about it and learn as much as I can. And then one day, BOOM, interest gone and I move on to something else. Often times, this will all have occurred without me even mentioning the topic in question to another living soul.

I'm currently obsessed with Elliot Smith, I had heard his music in passing and knew vaguely of his death but never thought any more of it until a few weeks ago when I came across an article about his life, and I've been hooked ever since.

Do other people get like this, or am I an obsessive oddball? I'm very level headed in all other aspects of life, so always find it funny how invested I get in random things

@ladybee28 thank you so much for this recommendation and insight. I beat myself up over my inability to commit/stick to things so maybe this will help me use my “flighty ness” to my advantage.

All the time. If I'm interested in something I'm really interested. DS is the same.

Pre-children it was completely normal for me to sit up until 3-4am because of whatever my latest obsession was. I like to hoard information about things. Sites like Pinterest provide a lot of fuel for me.

Like others I usually I circle back to obsessions.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is obsession with researching virtually ANY new product I may need/want to buy. The more expensive the product, the more research goes into it. And I don’t mean the usual reading up of reviews etc. Latest example - needed a new cordless vacuum cleaner and I have read that many articles, watched so many YouTube videos to choose between the two that made it to the shortlist, my head wants to explode. Down to researching the merits of a direct drive motor head vs torque driven! 🤦🏽‍♀️

@HappenstanceMarmite you should have seen me trying to choose a new Henry hoover!! that was a very happy YouTube rabbit hole I fell down.

No but my autistic child does!

Yes I do this!

This lockdown it has been YouTube documentaries on a couple of specific periods of history. Lost interest about a week ago. May come back to them but I feel I've satisfied my desire to learn about them iyswim.

I have decades of unfinished projects behind me - learning languages, instruments, cooking techniques, craft projects. They don't hold my interest for long enough to really be prepared to do the hard work, as soon as they get tedious and effort-y I'm onto something new.

OH thinks it's funny but he's a bit like it too.

@HappenstanceMarmite

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is obsession with researching virtually ANY new product I may need/want to buy. The more expensive the product, the more research goes into it. And I don’t mean the usual reading up of reviews etc. Latest example - needed a new cordless vacuum cleaner and I have read that many articles, watched so many YouTube videos to choose between the two that made it to the shortlist, my head wants to explode. Down to researching the merits of a direct drive motor head vs torque driven! 🤦🏽‍♀️

We're planning on buying a house this year. I've already built an entire CMS (content management system) to deal with it. 😳

Oh my god yes, but not quite so fleeting (wish it was fleeting).

My obsessions usually manifest in actresses (so much so that I've questioned my sexuality but in real life I'm very happy with my OH who is aware of my strange mind). I have to watch every single thing they've been in, know everything about the film/show/production, re-watch it several times and basically join some sort of online fandom.

There's been a few different ones over the years, but the longest recent one is Gillian Anderson I am OBSESSED. And watching 11 seasons and two films worth of x files in honour of this was a big commitment but what else is there to do in lockdown.

If I'm not obsessing over a character in or actress, I do get heavily involved in other stuff. Either decorating/moving house/planning holidays/events. There always has to be something on my mind that I commit intensely to and no stone is left unturned.

Yes, I think I get it from my dad. Usually true crime or disasters. I also am a bit like it with crafts - I had an intense interest in calligraphy, diamond painting, pastels, watercolours, then crochet, now knitting. It cycles round though.

Oh, completely. Mine are always crushes So I'll watch a few shows or films with my latest celebrity crush in and then enjoy some daydreaming about them. Keeps me happy and amused!

Currently working through the newest Star Wars with eldest DC and having a lovely little daydream whilst watching up about being some kind of resistance fighter (actual details irrelevant) who Poe Dameron is hopelessly obsessed with...

I should add I never actually have crushes on celebrities! Just like to find a way to insert myself into House/Firefly/Narcos etc

I’m nuts about Darth Vader dh laughs his head of but I love researching things for the home, new kitchen colours yellow and or orange, will spend hours looking at houses apartments on you tube. Medical History is my biggest love, I’m very lucky when I go into hospital as long as it’s planned surgery I have a great time chatting to the anaesthesist about it and the history.

I do this!

For example I watched “four weddings and a funeral” the other day for the first time in years. I then had to research everything about the film, the writer and the actors in it.

I also get the “have to read EVERY review and know EVERYTHING about a new product or holiday” before I buy - that sucks the joy out of it eventually

I've been totally obsessed with Katie Price of all people for years... I can't stand her and everything she stands for.
Tell that to my obsession please, I do don't understand it... 😩

My Diana her true story film has been played into the thousands over the last 30 years if I’m not well that’s my go to story.

Yes I do, but my interests tend to be long lasting.
I’m fascinated by the former East Germany and have been for some time.
I enjoy playing the piano and also music theory - I’ve done grade 5 theory and am working towards grade 6.
My most recent obsession (well interest more than obsession) is the Korean series Crash Landing on You. I find it hard to stop myself rewatching favourite scenes and I love reading about it on the internet.
The last time I was obsessed with a film was Oliver when I was 11 or 12. In those days there was no internet so I had to make do with learning all the songs.
I don’t think I’m aspergic.

Yes! This is me too. I get utterly obsessed with things and learn everything about them and buy all the stuff and then it just goes. I also then forget a lot of it too, so family will buy me gifts a year or so later related to my now ex-obsession topic and I feel totally blank and confused at why, or just embarrassed if I do remember (fairies were an embarrassing obsession that still comes back to haunt me in the form of gifts from distant relatives). Thankfully an obsession last year was Marie Kondo, so I now have lots of space for when the next obsession hits. I do it with causes too like a pp, and find myself clearing out shelves of the magazine of a charity for rare diseases, or a specific endangered plant genus etc.

I’ve remembered another two - Torville & Dean and the pianist Lang Lang. We’ve been to see Lang Lang play in 5 different countries - I’ve got a very long suffering dh.

I’ve remembered another two - Torville & Dean

Oooh, I had an obsession with Torville and Dean for a while. I was trawling YouTube for their performances and documentaries, and also got hold of their autobiography. I was completely fascinated by the nature of their personal relationship, and looking for clues to understand it. I'm old enough to remember their Olympic Gold so there was an element of nostalgia there too.

Another one here for 9/11 once or twice a year I will become obsessed with it for a few days and then just stop one day and that's me until the next time. I had my most recent obsession with it 2 or 3 weeks ago where I spent days watching documentaries, watching the lives news footage from the day, reading all about it on Wikipedia, searching for survivor stories online and reading old threads on here including one from the day as it was happening. I have watched all of these documentaries, the news footage, read Wikipedia and the Mumsnet threads a hundred times before but I always come back and do it every time I obsess over it. This time though I searched Reddit for the first time so that was really interesting it was stuff I had never read before. This time next year I will have done all of this again.

Other obsessions include -
Princess Diana
Royal family
Challenger
Lockerbie disaster
Hillsborough
Plane crashes
International Space Station

I realise a lot of these make me sound really ghoulish but most happened before I was born and everytime I read and watch stuff about them I still feel the same shock and sadness as if it's the first time I've heard about it.

Oh man you are my people! I go through phases of being obsessed with certain things or hobbies - specific people, places, events etc. I'll do everything I can to find out as much about them as possible, and then another tv documentary or news article will strike me and I'll move on to the next one, and not remember anything about the last one

Did someone say Torvill and Dean? That one is still going strong and started in 1982 so one of my longest running ones. I hated when they started Dancing on Ice because the public started watching them and they were mine!

Torvill & Dean were so cool.
I was upset for days when they ‘only’ got bronze at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
The audience at the time was pretty furious too, iirc.

I do this too!

Yes, this is me all over. I also score quite highly for ASD traits (according to online tests)...