Everything in its right place. Sitting in one place for hours, toiling away at the thing you can’t not do. The urge to not just know a little bit about something, but instead: turning your life into the pursuit of learning all you can about the interesting new things that come your way. Obsession has driven some to create work that has withstood the test of time. It has also driven some mad. That’s what we’re talking about this week.
We begin by asking each other if we consider ourselves to be obsessive people. Find out if we have any obsessive tendencies. Also find out the first thing we had more than just a passing interest in…before moving on to discussing the first time we can remember a person showing obsessive behavior.
It’s become a pretty popular thing to say “I’m OCD about things”…when that’s rarely the case. Find out if we’ve ever met people truly diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder?
After that, we move on to talking about if we’ve ever become obsessed with a book, a film, or TV series.
If you want to know what one thing has to be done in our lives “just so,” listen in. You’ll also find out the most insanely obsessive we’ve ever been about anything.
Obsession can be a strange thing: what one finds normal, others may find strange. We talk about obsessions we’ve seen in others that we just don’t understand.
No matter how much a person might like to believe they are exceptional — that their quirks and actual obsessive tendencies are theirs and theirs only — people are rarely so different. Find out if we believe everyone is a little obsessive in their own ways.
We wrap up the episode wondering if a little bit of obsession is healthy…and how much is too much.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts about this week’s topic in the comments below…
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CMStewart says
I’ve cracked my back, knuckles, knees, toes, ever since I was a kid. I also had a bad habit of snapping my chewing gum (no fingers, mouth only). Even now, if I chew gum I have to snap it… I also crunch ice obsessively. I’m trying to get away from that. But it’s so very relaxing…
I’m also constantly tapping or swinging my foot or leg when I sit. If I make myself stop, it’s like a pressure keeps building up until I just HAVE to start up again. My hubby says I even do it in my sleep. Yeah, I’m weird.
gorillamen says
Cracking knuckles defeats me. If I were ever about to get into a big fight and the opposition started cracking knuckles and stuff — I’d give up! My wife pops gum, and we’ll both chew ice when we have ice in something.
You’d get along with Shawn and me with the foot tapping/leg moving. I swing my foot like a tail. When I’m content, my foot just goes back and forth. Or when I’m busy.
If you’re weird for those things — you’re in good company!
Shawn says
I’m extremely twitchy. Leg bouncing, constant shifting… Possibly the only reason I smoke is something to do with my hands.