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1986
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Joined: 28 Mar 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 698
Location: Tokyo

26 Sep 2021, 8:48 am

Edna3362 wrote:
Fundamentally, in it's mechanics and behaviors quite the same.

But the difference is that...
Obsessions are usually unwanted special interests.
Or, special interests are helpful obsessions.

Person with obsessions do not like the special interests they ended up with.
They see it as some compulsion that overtook it's life and thought, better off out of their lives. It brought them isolation and despair.

This is an interesting point of view. In this vein, I'd say I've mostly had obsessions for the past decade. I'm often caught obsessing over things I don't want to obsess about. I've tried locking stuff away physically and digitally, had my partner hide the tools, etc., but it's been impossible to stop even though I want to. Perhaps telling is that my father was an alcoholic. Luckily, I don't obsess over anything dangerous so people around me don't seem to get why I'm upset over it. I can't properly convene the mental anguish I feel from never being able to "stop", but at least I'm not destroying my liver by getting drunk.

My obsessions are mostly non-social, hyper-specific and technical, whereas as a person I crave lots of social connection. The command center in my brain wants to catalog obscure midi-files from the nineties, but the rest wants to have a coffee at the mall with a good friend.