Obsessions and everyday life

[Pinky]

do your obsessions ever get so intense that they affect you getting on in every day life, e.g., college, relationships etc?
i ask because last week i cancelled on my boyfriend because i was havin a particularly obsessive day...
anyone else had this???

 

[PanPaniscus]

Sometimes. I do often think about my special interests when my focus should be elsewhere like at college for example.
I've never gone as far as turning down an invite though.

 

[LgndKllr24]

I think I used to be like that, but not as much anymore. If there was a car race on that I wanted to watch, I would make sure not to schedule anything around that time and if somebody wanted to hang out, I would not go. There used to be some nights when people wanted to hang out and I just wanted to stay home on forums or looking at things on Wikipedia. Now though, I am better at making sure to do things a bit more often.

 

[hazel]

i find it very very hard to do anything else when i'm thinking or doing my interests. it really affects all areas of my life - in the past i have cancelled appointments- skived school- staayed in my room for hours because of it lol

 

[Billi]

My current obsession bicycling, is better than my last one, because I socialize through it and it's a heathy thing to do. My partner is pretty easy going about letting me do my thing, and I bought him a bike and we take casual rides together sometimes. But i am in deep on this one. I do spend a fair bit of my evening online researching things and I spend a little money on it. On the weekends I want to be out riding with my club or group. And I have midweek ride and in the early fall I will be training again for cyclocross at least one evening a week. As you can see much of my life revolves around my interest. I try to be careful to do what my partner wants sometimes and to cover a few weekend shifts at work so I will seem more like a team player.

 

[jaws]

do your obsessions ever get so intense that they affect you getting on in every day life, e.g., college, relationships etc?
i ask because last week i cancelled on my boyfriend because i was havin a particularly obsessive day...
anyone else had this???

Sometimes I can become severely unfocused, due to being lost in thought about special interests. I don't recall ever canceling something because of it...though I may have been so distracted at times I probably should have.

As someone who has not taken much time lately to retreat to my special interests, I will suggest going easy on yourself. Without my special interests aka obsessions, I feel like I might be slipping into depression. I think for aspies special interests are a requirement for good mental health.

 

[LgndKllr24]

Sometimes I can become severely unfocused, due to being lost in thought about special interests. I don't recall ever canceling something because of it...though I may have been so distracted at times I probably should have.

As someone who has not taken much time lately to retreat to my special interests, I will suggest going easy on yourself. Without my special interests aka obsessions, I feel like I might be slipping into depression. I think for aspies special interests are a requirement for good mental health.

I totally agree with that. I often wonder about what it would be like if I didn't have my special interests, and I just know it would be pretty depressing for me. I much prefer to think about my special interests over actually interacting with people almost all the time though, so that in the long run probably isn't very good. But I guess it's pretty much all about what makes you happy, and it's not like I'm hurting anybody else either.

 

[KinksFan]

My interests are strong, but they don't interfere with my work schedule.

 

[glass]

I do when I am playing computer games.

 

[jbmv]

My obessions in the past have somewhat taken over my life. I would take vacation days to fulfill my obsessions. They are not as strong as they once were but I see better able to control them.

 

[csanon]

Obsessions are tough. I have to actively to work to control them, like setting an allotted amount of time devoted to it before moving on to something else. I've also started meditating at least once a day, which has been helping to keep my mind focused on the present moment rather than the obsessions