Fleeting obsessive interests - what does this mean?

[randomQuestion4839596]

So I'm an adult, mid thirties female, and this is something I think I've had for quite some time. I'm wondering if it's a symptom of a wider condition as I know most people I'm close to don't do it!

So I'll have a specific hobby, say video games or reading or painting - I'll get so into it and obsessive about it, want to do it all the time, buy all the supplies for it and focus on it intensely for a while. Then the novelty will wear off as I've been sparked by something else and the cycle repeats. Sometimes the obsession lasts a while and other times it can be changed quicker.

It covers all areas not just hobbies - sometimes specific meals, genuine areas of focus and productivity, copious time spent online researching something - sometimes I just fall into a black hole sparked by something. There's been an incel storyline in hollyoaks which sparked me to watch documentary and then bam I was obsessed with learning more about that and pulling up 50 tabs on my iPad 😅

Just in the past few months I've done this with learning illustration and signed up to subscriptions and bought supplies and started obsessively learning about it, then turned to reading and went on a mad one buying tons of books from charity shops, then I was distracted again by my games console and downloading new games for that - obsessed with one for a bit, then a new one takes over, etc etc.

I'd like to be a bit more consistent with my interests and what I focus time on and lose the obsession/abandon cycle I seem to naturally default to.

I'm not aware that I have any medical conditions other than some anxiety that this could be part of but perhaps I don't know I have it. I don't think I have autism or ADHD but how do I know for sure?

If anyone has any idea about this is be thrilled to start understanding what it could be (and probably obsessively researching about that too 😂)

I do this, including having to have the best kit - god knows why I don’t stick to the basics. I’m as sure as I can be that I don’t have adhd. <goes away to ponder this>

I totally relate OP and don't have a diagnosis of anything myself. I get short-lived fixations on subjects (e.g. Climate change or astronomy) or people (Elijah Wood or Terry Pratchett!) and have wondered if this is normal. I'll find out everything I can until my mind goes elsewhere. I figure I'm probably a bit odd anyway but also rather fabulous ha ha.

Another thing I've always done is get intensely interested in, usually, comedy shows and memorise the lines. Can watch shows over and over; maybe a comfort thing. An ex-boyfriend said he liked one show and because he couldn't recite lines from it I queried whether he really did like it. He just said I had a freakish knowledge of it...

‘All the gear and no idea’ is usually ADHD.

I'm the exact same - covers so many areas! Also agree re. Having to have the best supplies. Spent £300 on this fancy paint set I've used once - hoping that obsession revisits so I can use it a ton more 😅

I've realised as well this covers things like internet usage, I've maxxed out tabs on my phone (200), iPad (500) and just embarrassed myself at work when I needed to restart but had around 60 tabs open 🤦🏼‍♀️ definitely need to try and tone this down!

DH does this and while he might have some mild Autism traits I actually blame his mother!
If he (and now the GC) ever showed any kind of interest in anything she would always turn it into a huge thing. Send him articles, equipment etc and encourage him to spend as much time doing it as possible.
No idea why but it’s annoying as we are all supposed to show the same level of enthusiasm

I do this, always have done, but I'm pretty sure I've got ADHD.

I am like this. Don't have ADHD. Seems perfectly normal to me.

There are overlapping conditions that cause the same looking behaviour - bipolar, hording, one book I read on bulimia and compulsions explained that often you had compulsive behaviour in other areas of your life. And neurodiversity and be co morbid with all these other things.

Is it over planning, hyperfocus, a lack of impulsive control?

Damned if I can unpick it.

Sometimes I wonder if partly we have too long on boring work meetings to 'research' latest enthusiasms on line to make purchases and then are time poor when it comes to the execution of the obsession...

I have mini fleeting enthusiasms and some long standing ones.