Positive Obsessions

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

“Would you say you’re obsessed with running?” Mike asked me the other day. I thought for a moment, “No,” I said. “Yes. Maybe?” I would be significantly less happy if I didn’t, or couldn’t. But generally, I get obsessed with most things I really want to do.

The word obsessed has a bad reputation, but I’m not sure it’s entirely deserved. Obsession is a noun meaning: the state of being obsessed with someone or something; an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.

Synonyms: fixation, consuming passion, mania, compulsion, preoccupation, enthusiasm, addiction, craze, phobia, complex, neurosis.

I don’t know much, but I do know that the word “neurosis” seems a lot worse than “passion.” Moderation is widely touted as a good thing, in regards to diet, work, exercise, etc. But moderation is kind of boring too. Charles Dickens famously wrote all morning and took long (3+ hour walks) every afternoon. You could say that we was “obsessed” with writing. Ernest Hemingway kept track of how many words he wrote every day. He may have been “obsessed” with producing. In 2017, Serena Williams spent roughly three hours a day on the tennis court, and an additional 2 in the gym. Chris Stapleton has written over 170 songs since he started in 2001, and he doesn’t seem to be…