Does anyone else go through phases/ obsessions?

[gottaloveascamhun]

Current one is too outing to mention but past obsessions have been:

Jewellery making
Planning my wedding
Baby wearing (sorry) / slings
Tried going vegan for a while
Tried going sober
Dry slope skiing
Ice skating
Choir
Batch cooking/ slow cooking everything

They last about 2-3 months before I lose interest. No harm has been done but I do feel like a bit of a twat for being so consumed by things 😆 please tell me I'm not alone.

Also most of what people are posting aren’t obsessions - they’re just distractions. It’s perfectly normal to do various things you don’t continue in life….

@Joyfultoes I was in various Facebook groups full of evangelical babywearers and I'd buy loads of slings and chat about them a lot.

My current obsession has taken over my life to the point where I'm stepping back from it very soon for my mental health- there's an event I'm attending but after that it needs to stop. I think about it all hours of the day.

ADHD is a distinct possibility for me. Tiny attention span, very difficult to settle to anything, easily bored on top of the obsessions.

This is me too op. I think I have ADHD.

I need something to think about and do all the time. It is all consuming.

I also feel like a huge twat once the obsession starts to subside.

I am trying to be more accepting of myself though. I have taught myself some cool stuff, some of it is even useful!

I do this in a slightly different way which is I become obsessed with things until I’ve researched / read up on them as much as possible

Ie I’ll spend a few weeks reading up on natural disasters, then move on to abductions, then top 100 boys names of the 80s, then capitals of the world etc etc

Usually accompanied by some silly sporcle quiz that I like to get 100% in before I can move on!

Yes but most of mine are sticking these days! The only thing that seems to pass eventually are TV shows. If I enjoy one, like a series on Netflix, I watch it over and over. And get quite sad that it's the end each time. So restart. But they pass in the end.

Yep. I had a similar thread on here last year and a few posters suggested it was a symptom of ADHD. Took ds for his ADHD assessment a few months later and the doctor mentioned that I also seemed to have a few markers for it and it was like a lightbulb going on in my head, years of quirkiness and dodgy life choices explained 😁

But to answer your question, my current/recent past obsessions are-

A particular serial killer (this obsession is lasting a lot longer than I would like it to and it just won't go away)

Survivalism/subsistence farming

Ozark/the general Ozark area/real life money laundering

Big criminals and their criminal activities in my locality

Batch cooking/slow cooking everything

Large familyand homestead youtubers

YouTube cleaning videos

There are probably a few more too that I can't think of off the top of my head. I have a very busy mind 😁

It's ADHD. I have too many to list, maybe tomorrow. But if you live near me, and need kit for almost anything, I have it 😁

When I am under stress I order China on eBay. I obsessively collect tea and dinner services. It started when my Mum died. It drives DH mad. We have to have a lock up to store it all. He keeps begging me to stop but I just can't.

Me too. It was photography last week. In the past it's been many hobbies.
I get totally obsessed then suddenly it disappears. I got obsessed with a certain dress and spent hours looking on vinted. Bought 4 and only 1 fits.
Can spend hours going down rabbit holes researching useless things really. I
Always have to be doing something and can never really relax. I have thought recently about ADHD but iv been like this for 50 years and im ok.

This is very interesting, I find when I am under stress, I tend to go further into my obsessions. What do you do with the China, do you use it at all?

If you could see how much I have. I always buy Royal Albert. Don't know why. I have a 24 place setting for tea set, coffee set and full dinner service of Old Country Roses, I also have almost as much of Memory Lane, Lavender Rose and Val Dor. I do use a bone China tea pot, milk jug and tea cup every day. I know I have more than I could possibly ever use. Today I had another delivery of 2 more soup coupes and saucers. I have the full world, covered serving dishes, salt and pepper pots, napkin rings, jam pot, butter dishes all matching. I have recently found lumps in my neck and had ultrasound scan now waiting to go back to see specialist. I am very anxious. I know this is triggering my obsession. My dh joked we should use ally China for massive street party for jubilee. He records I have enough China for whole street to use. I have 13 tea and coffee pots. I just keep this compulsion that I have to have more. When I order an item the need is satiated for a short time, 3 or 4 days, then I must order more. Sometimes if not stressed I can go for 3 or 4 months without ordering anything. I know it sounds bonkers.

Oh wow this is interesting, yes this is very much me! Recents have been kite flying, photography, knitting, kayaking, growing things, cycling, running etc etc. I’ll also get obsessed with topics and research research, research. Currently it’s weather systems. I’m the same with work though, which is frustrating. I’ll be really excited about a particular role or industry, do all I can to get the job, then be bored a couple of months later and look to move on. Interesting it’s a symptom of ADHD, as I have wondered about this before.

Yes, I think most people are like this to some degree - am particularly struck by that thought when I hear the intensity of those calling in to football phone-ins on the radio.

Am like this at one point I had so many jars around the house and one time I was obsessed with sea monkeys I was up all night watching them on YouTube till 5am 😂

Mine are a mix of different projects that I get intrigued with for example:

Espionage
Stock market
Museums
Ancient egypt
different types of poison plants
Roller coasters
Etc

Art bell, on coast to coast am

Yes, it’s an ADHD thing. Hyperfocus.

Yes. Mostly the researching but also the physical stuff like bread making, geo caching etc. Is there some sort of Obsess 'n' Quit hobby club we can all join please?

Also forensic science inspired by csi and ncis

Like, I'd start the O+Q hobby club for us and spend ages planning a logo for it, but we'd have to get a normal person to run it for us long term.

Me too. Or something related to health or beauty.

Oh yes, I never do things by halves, either. If I’m doing skincare I’ll read about, obsess over it, talk endlessly about it, research a million products, buy forty and then stop bothering to use them after ten days. Same with weight loss, running dog training, growing grains, collecting all the famous five books. I’m positively consumed by it for a while. And then decidedly….not. The ADHD flag has been raised.

Just at the moment though, my drive has deserted me. I don’t much care for anything (I’m broke so I can’t really take up anything new) and I’m missing it very much. I’m bored, which I never, ever thought I could be. I want my crazy phases back!!

Yes I totally have this! I’ve noticed it’s only been the last few years though when I’ve lived a proper boring grown up life with a fiancé, house, bills etc. I signed up for a marathon and was completely consumed by training for that. Sometimes I get obsessed by the parkrun. Currently planning my wedding. We moved house and I spent all my time planning the things we were going to do to that. After the wedding I don’t really have any more obsessions I can focus on though, I almost want to try and have nothing to see how I cope 🙈

is it a sign I’m unhappy and just distracting myself while always wanting the next thing and never being happy where I am? 🤔

Oh missed my biggest recent one.. getting pregnant first then being pregnant then looking after a baby.. there’s months worth of research there. I got to the stage I knew every single scientific fact about getting pregnant, I had every ovulation gadget going 🤦🏼‍♀️ What would have been wrong with just ‘seeing what happened’ like everyone else?!

OMG. I have found my people! I get obsessively interested in topics and research them endlessly. During my skincare/health and beauty phase, I actually trained as a beauty therapist and reflexologist, despite having a completely unrelated career. Quilting is my latest one. Every time I'm into something, I want to be an expert on that subject and will read up on it endlessly. I also did a Masters Degree because I was obsessively interested in the idea of having that particular (prestigious) qualification. I have gone through phases of collecting different things. For example, I might be interested in a certain nail polish brand and I'll keep buying it in different colours. Strangely, I never considered ADHD although I'm fairly sure my DS (undiagnosed) has it. Hyperfocus is a big thing for him too. This thread has been so enlightening. I don't know anyone else in real life who does these things!