Do you go through 'phases of obsession' ??

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I started with Dinosaurs as a kid. Its a classic one! I still keep up when I find new info, such as the Dino-bird links. Etc.
Replaced by Fossils in general.
Then Insects
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But of course, I can call my obsessions hobbies now! LOL
Avid collector of Shells & Minerals.
Reptile photography/keeping.

Sincerely,
Matthew

What separates a phase of an obsession from a totally different obsession? I don't really understand the distinction.

I have a few interests that I've always had, but most come and go fairly frequently (phases). I've never understood if it's like this for most people with AS or not.

I tend to get obsessed when I don't really understand something right away. It is like I have to understand it and nothing else matters. I mean the world could end, but just let me get it first. That is why college and and most of education is so disappointing.

Let's see, obsessions that have come and gone and occasionally make a reappearance:

quilting, knitting, writing stories, gardening, various authors' work (I'll read every book I can get my hands on by a particular author in quick succession), particular individuals, occult phenomena, some television shows, dictionaries, Greek mythology. Currently, I'm painting, but I worry that it's yet another thing that I'll embrace and then will drop as no longer interesting, so I'm not allowing myself to buy all the books and supplies I want to get. Wrong Planet seems to be an obsession that comes in waves, too... I'll watch the boards here for weeks, then completely lose interest for months at a time (no offense).

I'm obsessive about the band Blue October and the band Hinder. As a child and into teenage years, I was obsessed about music of the 60s and 70s. That means I completely missed out on music of the 80s and some 90s. LOL

Another obsession I have is cats, which I've had since early childhood. I'm 34 now and can still tell you all manner of feline facts that I learned when I was, like, 6.

I can identify with that 100% sluice. It sums up my secondary obsessions perfectly. Science at school was boring because it was simple and generic, but I find quantum physics, astronomy and the like fascinating and have learned more about such things by myself than I ever could in school or college.

I've learned over time to just call my obsessions "hobbies" and "interests." I've learned over the years to sorta multitask my obsessions, either out of me wanting multiple obsessions, or people telling me my interests were too narrow. In time, I sorta became a bit of a "renaissance man" of sorts, with lots of knowledge about lots of things.

But, with the "more like waves" comment, I have to agree, I don't usually "lose" obsessions, just things go back and forth, and all work together sorta.

IE, I used to be really quite "obsessed" with anime, and while I still like anime, watch it, etc, it's less "obsession" than it used to be, but now, I've gotten "obsessed" with Japanese music, stemming from the anime, so anime the anime helped that one, etc.

I think for MOST things in my life, I've been able to pass off some stuff as hobbies or whatever. The key for an obsession, and success in it, is finding the right venue for it. IE, Darius McCollum, man with Aspergers and an obsession with trains, has gotten like 15 convictions for stealing trains. What happened was quite tragic, as a kid, someone in his class stabbed him and he almost died, so he'd just skip school after that and ride the subway, eventually the conductors became friends with him, showed him how to operate the trains, and supposedly they'd have him cover their shifts even. He'd "work" for free, on the trains, as a kid, just because he loved trains so much. Eventually, he "stole" a train, and got arrested. So, if things worked out slightly nicer for him, he could potentially have had a wonderful career in his passion, but partially due to the actions of others, purposely or inadvertantly (ie, teaching him how to operate a train at age 12), and obviously due to his own (pretending to be an employee of NY Transit) he's spent half his life in prison. For him, things just didn't work out for his "obsession" and him, for him to make anything useful of it, society wouldn't allow it to be so.

But really, don't worry about your "obsessions." NTs have narrower stupider interests in more ridiculous things (American Idol...) more likely, your's are just different, and it helps make the world go 'round. Or something.

Well, in a phase you'd be obsessed with that one thing and nothing else. Eventually you 'over expose' yourself to the obsession so the novelty wares off. Then another obsession takes it's place.

Spot on. Couldn't have put it any better myself.

Oh, AKA my life. I hate overexposing myself to my obsessions though, because usually they feel very close to heart while they're there, and they're always good for me, if I didn't need them I wouldn't have them.

It's easy to get obsessed with Syd Barrett... even dead he's much more interesting than any living person... (same with Jesus, I guess, and don't go burning my records )

In the past few years I've been obsessed with
Nirvana (This was one of the longest obsessions)
Avenged Sevenfold
Metallica
The "Skate" video game series
The Inbetweeners
and strangely enough recently I've become obsessed with Aspergers Syndrome itself!

Your username reminds me of the song "Octopus" by Syd Barrett

Yeah, you can also call me obssesyd...

Haha, nice pun. xD