Switching obsessions

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I have an obsession with politics currently. It keeps distracting me, to the extent that I cannot stop thinking about or reading about certain politicians, including their biographies, campaign events, news stories about them, and endless Internet comments and arguments in various forums about these politicians. I feel that if I do not read every possible item about these political figures, that my knowledge will be incomplete--and of course, this is an impossible task considering that thousands of people, including myself, are constantly researching and writing new material about these subjects and posting them online.

I do not want to have a political discussion, so I would like to avoid providing any details about the objects of my obsession or my own views on them. Rather, I am curious if people have any strategies to deal with this kind of obsession.

I am trying to switch back to a different obsession, one which is actually related to my work and that I actually get paid to be obsessed about. But it seems that, once I identify some practical utility for an obsession, I lose all interest. Whereas with a subject like politics, while I am powerless to affect it, I can go on obsessing about it for years.

Id actually just like to say your not at all powerless to affect politics!!

Isn't this a good sort of interest to have though?

I suppose it is a good interest in some ways but not 24/7. It's keeping me from doing anything else.

Yeah, I can see where an obsession with politics could be like one for sports, e.g. football. There are new developments each day, and enough coverage on TV, the Internet, and magazines that it is difficult to get away from it. Because you bring it up I'm assuming that it is troubling you or interfering with your life in some negative way.

I have no direct experiences in breaking out of or moderating something like that. But with politics in particular I am able to not get too engaged by remembering Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. . There he talks about Circle of Influence vs. Circle of Concern, the idea is that while there are many things that may concern me, of those there is a small subset which I can meaningfully influence. Covey offers the thought that one is better off when one focuses more attention on the later.

Remembering that can sometimes help guide where I place my interests. I guess it could be something of a modern spin on the Zen notion of "chop wood, carry water".

Here is something I have recently seen in myself: when I first notice that I am concerned or dissatisfied with the large amount of time I am devoting to an activity or pattern of thinking, such notice in and of itself usually marks the start of a seemingly "automatic" scaling-back of that activity.

It may take weeks or months for me to finally let go of whatever it is, but just the self-awareness of my own dissatisfaction can signal the beginning of the end of it.

I don't know more about it other than as an observed phenomenon. Maybe it is an example of the old adage that "unrewarded behavior eventually extinguishes itself". I dunno.

The very act of observation alters reality. Very interesting and quite possibly underestimated in how we manage not only our minds but also society at large. Change occurs naturally when the phenomenon is being observed. Reality is fascinating.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect

Observer effect.. fascinating! That does seem to bear on what I experience. I was familiar with the Hawthorne Effect, and it makes sense that something similar can happen when I become observant of my own behaviors. Thanks for sharing that bon mot, and also the link.

Well--I never vocalized my frustration before. At least not this fully and honestly. It's hard for me to talk about this with a friend or a therapist. I hope the act of saying it, and thereby consciously observing it, will help.

I am also questioning whether I really want to stop the behavior. I don't think I do, not entirely; I have to think about that some more. At least I would like to control this interest. Right now it feels like the interest is controlling me.

I have a funny, sneaking suspicion that you will begin to see it moderate down to a more comfortable level in the not too distant future.

I hope it will! Thank you for the thought!

Mine used to be new age philosophy and theology, just because of the amount of ridiculous gibberish I read. Before that it was anthropology and social theory (around time I was diagnosed with HFA) before that it was cats and dinosaurs.

Now my interest is turtles!

Many have been the times that I've let an obsession overwhelm my life. I'm still navigating these waters, but it does seem that many of us can be like that. I have various interests, like maritime history (with a particular focus on the period from 1450 to 1800 AD), historic astronomy, space exploration, World War II RAF aircraft, and early 20th century artillery, and I tend to rotate them around to keep from being bored. However, there was a period from 1991 through 1994 when I was all about old ships, 24/7, to the point where it was an all-consuming interest. I suppose it's easy for us to fall into that trap. I broke that cycle only when I became angry at perceived manipulation by a local historical society (were they? Weren't they? I'll never know).
These days, I try to moderate my thinking, though, as always, it is very easy to get trapped.

I would love to have an interest like turtles! Seems like it would be ... comforting to be intensely interested in something that moves slowly.

I think my ADHD tendencies interfere in an annoying way, as I get impatient and don't go into too much depth in any one area, but tend to stick to the surface of things.

Sometimes it seems like these interests are pretty random. Lately I'm really big into comparative politics. A few weeks ago I spent several days reading everything I could find about one of the former premiers of Queensland, Australia--which is a pretty obscure thing for a North American to get obsessed over. But then today I got bored with politics and went to another old standby--apocalyptic fiction.