Your obsessions define your life
What will you choose to be obsessed with?
The Vast Reaches of the Ob, 1961.
You are obsessed with something - everyone is.
Humans need obsession like bees need pollen. Diving into something with passion makes you feel alive.
Or, it can kill you.
Obsession can be the most rewarding thing in life, or the most destructive, depending on what you’re obsessed with.
And we are all born with a cup of obsession, and given a few different chalices to pour it into.
Will you pour it into the healthy obsessions, or into the unhealthy ones?
That choice will decide which direction your life takes.
i — obsession will make or break you
“My experience is what I agree to attend to.” — William James
Obsession created the wonderful things we have in our world.
Obsession invented clocks, refrigerators, televisions, and Hi-Fi soundsystems. Obsession has given the world unbelievable sporting and musical talent because the legends cannot peel themselves away from their craft.
Obsession can be the most beautiful experience - when you’re so engrossed in something that time seems to slow to a halt, and to pass by in the blink of an eye, all at the same time.
Obsession can help us create things that we’re proud of. A legacy for our lives.
But obsession can also scrunch your life into a little paper ball if it’s wrongly placed. Alcohol, weed, pornography, sex, gambling, television, short-form video, and bad relationships...these can completely ruin your life if you overindulge.
The person who is a victim of obsession will struggle. Life swallows you up when you let go of the rope.
But the person who realises that they are obsessive (as we all are), and chooses to place their obsession into the right place, will unlock a satisfaction in life that the former simply doesn’t have access to.
ii — what is a healthy obsession?
The defining factors of unhealthy obsessions are several:
things that bring negativity to the world - obsession with others (gossip), obsession with money, etc.
things that damage you - alcohol and drug abuse, sex abuse, spending addictions, unhealthy foods, obsessing with one’s own appearance, etc.
things that deliver cheap reward - television, video games, short-form video etc.
And the defining factors of positive obsessions are largely the opposite:
things that bring positivity to the world - obsession with helping others, obsession with art and music, engineering, inventing, mentoring, etc.
things that help you - exercise, hobbies, learning, etc.
things that deliver slow reward - long projects, reading books, writing books, etc.
Healthy obsessions are hard to get into, but once you’re in, the reward is like the difference between a drugged and sober life, or the difference between taking a taxi to the top of the mountain and hiking it.
Healthy obsessions are the things you want to do, but require energy and commitment.
Healthy obsessions help you create things you want to create, and things that you’re proud of.
Healthy obsessions are how you take your soul and pour it into the material world.
iii — where will you put your energy?
“No one can serve two masters.” — Matthew 6:24
I love seeing a computer nerd build a computer or a car enthusiast working on a car. I love seeing an author writing his memoir or a musician composing a song.
And I hate seeing someone wasting away, doing things that they don’t really want to do, but they seem to have stumbled into. I hate seeing someone stuck in a bad life because they watch TV rather than making things, or someone who gossips because they don’t know they can find friends that they don’t need to do that with.
And those two scenarios are the difference between a good and a bad life. The difference between a life where you have nothing to show for but negative production, and a positive impact on society.
In summary, being able to dive into something with your all is a privilege and the path to excellence, but only if you choose the right thing to be obsessed with.
It’s always difficult to choose to place your energy into the good obsessions. It’s clearly easier to smoke weed and watch movies than it is to go and work on your backhand, or to sit at a computer and work on your own business, or to sit and review engineering drawings, but it’s that barrier to entry that separates the normals from greats, the sad from the happy, and the depressed from the fulfilled.
It’s important to remember that we have obsession in our DNA, and in our blood, but we have to correctly choose where to channel it.
And that decision can define our entire lives.
So, will you be obsessed with reality TV, or with building things you’re passionate about?
Will you do the things you want, or will you say it’s too hard and postpone it forever?
Sincerely,
eren
