The Obsession How-To Guide

The Obsession How-To Guide

A Step By Step Instruction Guide to Understanding Obsessions and Developing Obsessions for the Non-Obsessive Individual

 This is not going to be a regular obsession post as I'm not really inspired by anything during today's lunch/blog break.  Instead, I was inspired to do something a little different today for your entertainment and reading pleasure.

First, the back story as to what brought me to write this.  I was having a conversation with a friend and we were discussing possible future purchases for home entertainment collections.  My friend suggested that rather than continue to feed my obsessions, I branch out and offer a wider a variety of viewing material to people who may be interested in watching a movie at my house.  She suggested that people might not be interested in the same things/actors/actresses that I was interested in, yet they found themselves with very little to choose from if that was the case and they wanted to watch a film at my house.  

I had never considered this before.  No one has ever voiced a problem with my obsessions before.  Yes, there are many recurring themes and faces throughout my movie collection, but it is a surprisingly large collection with a wide variety of genres to choose from.  

Needless to say, I mulled over the idea for a bit before completely rejecting it.  If I'm going to purchase movies for my collection, then the only really important thing is that I like my movies.  (Yes, there was a little toddler voice inside my head that said that.)

That being said, it did make me think.  There are, perhaps, many people out there that aren't obsessive like me.  They probably don't understand what it's like or how it happens.  What if these poor souls are obsessive but don't want to admit it?  What if they want to exercise their obsessiveness but don't know how to go about it?

Well, here's your handy dandy guide to both understanding obsession, living with it, and developing it.  ENJOY!

I read somewhere the other day (or saw it on television?) that internet addiction is chemical and genetic, like addiction to drugs or alcohol.  Basically, it's another great thing that science has found that we can blame our parents for.  Thanks science, parents everywhere love you.

So if that's the case, then I thought that obsessive traits could also be genetic (and therefore you can blame your parents for all your obsessions).  

Step one to the entire process which follows is this: Stop denying your obsessive personality.  Embrace it.  You are who you are, and unless you are stalker-type obsessive you're not hurting anyone.

 Now, don't you feel better about yourself?  Now that you've let go of the denial and have fully embraced your obsessive personality, you can move on to step two: Identify your obsession.

This step is not as easy as you might think.  Obsessions can come in many shapes and sizes.  If you're just accepting yourself as an obsessive person then you make take a little more time with this step.  It's OK, it's not a race.  Take as much time as you like.  Remember, this is a process you will repeat many times in your life.  

Once you have identified your obsession, or once you have encountered a new obsession, you may proceed to the next step.  Feed your obsession.

This can be done in a variety of ways, and some of them depend on the obsession.  Times have changed with technology, so feeding obsessions is now easier than ever before.  Though the tools used to feed obsessions may change, the overall methodology remains more or less the same.  You'll need to identify key aspects of your obsession before you proceed.  Once you are familiar with the process this will be automatic, however, until you reach that point I've provided some sample questions that you can explore.

1.  Is it a person, place, or thing?  
2.  Are there pictures or video available?
3.  Will you be looking for music?
4.  Are television and film important?
5.  Is it a food?  If it is, should you indulge often or feed your obsession sparingly?
6.  What possible sources of information are available to you?
7.  Is your obsession harmful to anyone or anything?

That should get you started on feeding your obsession.  I'd like to add here a disclaimer for questions number 5.  If your obsession is a food product, then I do NOT recommend feeding your obsession as often as I would for any other possible obsession.  It could be harmful to your health...unless maybe you also have an obsession for exercise.  Also, if you answered YES to #7 then STOP NOW AND SEEK HELP.  I am only interested in promoting healthy obsessions.

Assuming that you have identified your obsession at this point and have also verified that it is not harmful to yourself or any other living creature, you can move on.  Usually for me the next part of the process happens in various different ways.  You'll need to mix and match and personalize for them to suit your particular needs.

1.  The Internet

Now that we've entered a world of technology where everything is always at our fingertips, the first stop for me is usually the internet.  Here I can find out background information on whatever I'm obsessing over.  I can also figure out how best to proceed in order to maximize the amount of information I can find.  

2.  The Television Guide

If your search results tell you that movies or television might be a place to find out more about your obsession, then you'll likely want to skip on over to the television guide to see when something of interest will be airing.  In ages past obsessives like me had to sit in the floor on Sundays with the guide and go page by page hilighting things that would be of interest.  Now you can find most guides electronically.  Pinpointing any upcoming viewing will help you further plan your attack.

3.  YouTube

In times past we also did not have YouTube.  However, the times have changed and this is a very handy tool for any obsessive individual.  YouTube puts many things at your fingertips that you wouldn't have been able to see otherwise.  This will help you to catch up on interviews and appearances you may not be able to find on current television.  This beautiful stockpile of media also offers you plenty of appearances you would have missed, music videos if your obsession is musical, and a wide variety of other possibilities.  Pace yourself with YouTube, however, and realize that you don't have to watch all the videos in one day.  You can come back.

4.  Books and Magazines

Ah, yes...the go-to classics.  Books and magazines never go out of style, and most of the time you can find plenty of stuff to read that will help feed your obsession.  You can also find Blogs, e-zines, etc. on the internet to add to your reading material.  This way your mind gets a little bit of a work out in between the viewing/listening marathons that you'll be doing.

5.  Music

If your obsession is a musical obsession, in addition to the steps that you have taken prior to this one, you'll want to try to listen to everything your obsession has to offer.  Go ahead and pile all the hits into your IPOD.  Then you can have your obsession on the go!  

6.  Movies and Television

If your obsession can be found in movies or on television, be prepared to boob out in front of the tube.  Many channels play a variety of shows and movies that are sure to feed most any obsession.  If you can't find it there, Netflix and Amazon are prime places to find what you're looking for, and you can always slowly add to your home entertainment collection.

Congratulations.  You have now accepted your obsessive personality and you know how to feed it. With a little practice you'll be adding obsessions to your life frequently and helping them to grow with time.  We sincerely welcome you to the club!!!

If you are a non-obsessive person (or if you are still in denial) dealing with obsessive individuals in your life, then you understand better now the process they are going through, but there are a few more things you need to know.

1.  Obsessive people are not broken.  They do not need to be fixed.  Furthermore they do not want you to try to fix them.  Chances are your obsessive friends would find you much more interesting if you would embrace your inner obsessions (and everyone has them).  If you're interested in this, please jump back to step 1 and proceed from there.

2.  No obsession is "cooler" than any other obsession.  An obsession is an obsession and each person will be obsessed with what most appeals to them.  Your secret obsessions may seem cooler to you, but they're not.  Anyone not obsessed with them will always find your obsessions just as lame as you find theirs.  Get over yourself.  

3.  You can suggest other possible obsessions, but be prepared for the obsessive person in your life to either reject them for lack of interest or to become obsessed with what you have suggested, thus leading them to restart the cycle.  If you don't like someone's obsession,  you can always suggest something to them, but there's no telling if that obsession will stick or not.  If it does, be prepared to let it run its full course.  Remember, obsessions are stronger in the beginning, and though they may be long-term, the intensity will die down a little after the initial cycle is complete.  

I hope  my little How-To Guide has been helpful to those who are obsessive, those who think they might be, and those who have to live with the ones of us who are.  Happy obsessing everyone!  

Twilight

Twilight

Obsession Level: The Sparkly Anti-Obsession

Ok, so this should stir up a little debate and get things going on at least with the people who, unlike me, are obsessed with this book.

Let me tell you a little about myself and my reading habits.  To put it lightly, I'm an avid reader and I always have been.  By avid reader I mean that I make my way through one to two large, dusty, dense, academic tombs a day when forced to do so.  I can devour, however, five to six novels elected for pleasure in a day.  Needless to say, I'm a fast reader.  This means that when I'm on vacation and I have time to read, there's no stopping me.  I usually drop by some nice little hole-in-the-wall thrift shop or flea market and pick up all I can carry of the twenty-five to fifty cent reading material that they have to offer.  This means that I've read a lot of books.  In fact, I've read so many books that I can't even begin to remember half of what I've read unless it left an impact.  Let me just say an impact can be good or bad.

That little bit of background info being on the table, it's story time.  This is a story about how I came to read Twilight.  

I was on vacation for a few days and it was going to be great.  It was almost spring outside when it was just starting to become warm enough to be bearable and it was still cold enough that you didn't really feel motivated to do anything except curl up on the couch and indulge in inside activities.  I had the use of a quiet little beach house for a few days, all the junk food that one person needs, and time all to myself to read.  I had packed books for the trip, intending to spend the entire four days doing nothing but going through novel after novel.  I think I brought five with me, intending to make a stop at one of the aforementioned little shops when I arrived to stock up on the rest of the necessary reading material.

So I unpacked, headed out to the shop, and stood in front of the poorly arranged and overflowing shelves just dripping with possibility.  I immediately search out my favorites.  Any Dean Koontz books or Larry McMurtry books that I haven't read go into the basket first.  Then the wild card selecting happens.  The first thing I typically do in that situation is to think about books that I have heard people talk about or scan for titles that I remember them mentioning to me.  If the book or author came recommended, those are typically the second books to go in the basket.  Lastly, when all those possibilities are tapped out, I generally look around for any random title that catches my attention and I give that a go.  That's where things get sticky, and that's where you either end up with some gem that you're thrilled you discovered, or you end up with a twenty five cent book that you wish you could get a refund for.

This particular day I had packed my little basket when I saw a copy of Twilight laying there among the other stacks of unwanted and picked through books.  At this moment it was all the rage.  I seldom read any book that is all the rage until long after the  initial glory surrounding it has died down.  This is my practice simply because I've learned that books that aren't very good lose that initial glory rather quickly and then disappear from sight.  Those that were truly worthy of the glory remain very popular and therefore I am more assured of wisely spending my quarter and the few hours it will take me to read the book.

Still, I had a friend who had been nagging me for a while about this particular book.  She was in love with the series, patiently waiting for the new books to come out, and she said I had to read this book.  She swore that I would love this book.

I hesitated, a while, my heavy basket in hand, and finally decided to buy the book.  It was fifty cents, a bit more than I would have liked to spend for it, but it would shut her up and I had four days to read.  Also, the sheer size of the book promised, if it was any good, to provide me with possibly a full day of reading, which none of my other novels were going to be able to do, and four days was a long time to fill with reading material.

I took the book home, and I curled up in the chair.  I started reading and tried to hold off on my disappointment.  The book was written, at best, on a seventh grade reading level.  The grammar was atrocious.  The author apparently used a thesaurus and used it poorly.  The book was very long, yes, but it was so repetitive that half of that could have been removed without leaving any noticeable gap in what I suppose you could call the plot.  Furthermore, being a longtime vampire enthusiast, I found it utterly ridiculous that anyone could write about sparkling, vegetarian vampires.  To sum it up, the book took me three hours to read from cover to cover and that's three hours that I will never be able to get back in my life.  

I called my friend after that and asked her not to recommend anymore literature to me.  I'd had just about all I needed from that one experience.  We talked about the book, for a little while, but I had nothing positive to say about it, so we left it.  Luckily for me the rest of my vacation was salvaged by the one or two gems that I pulled off those dusty shelves, along with a few other decent books that, though not noteworthy, were not nearly as bad as the train wreck that Twilight is.  I took the giant book home with me from that vacation and debated what it could be used for.  It would make a nice doorstop, or a very large paperweight...in the end I think I ended up giving it to some teenage enthusiast of poor excuses for literature.

No, I never read the other books.  No, I never saw the movies.  I'd like to save myself those few hours of my life.  I did, however, eventually forgive my friend for such a terrible recommendation.  I still hold strong on my assertion, nevertheless, that she can no longer recommend any kind of book to me.