Do you feel lost without obsessions?

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They gossip about people they don't know (celebrities are the conversational piece of choice), go shopping at mall-cities, and sometimes they like to watch television programming about fictional people's domestic disputes.

After I finish a construction project I feel very free for a few weeks, but slowly the old urge starts to build, and I start to feel very down and unfocused. I always forget why I'm experiencing such a state of malaise and then it becomes clear........"I need a project!" I then need to start concentrating on the next big adventure, or I continue to feel lost.

Ah, good point and very true.

Shopping, talking about celebrities and watching that type of tv are all things I've never enjoyed or understood. Especially shopping. I hate it! I don't understand how people can tolerate the rudeness of people when they go shopping, or how they can walk around for that long, with both hands full of bags and that much noise, with people constantly bumping into them and blocking their way. How is that fun, or "relaxing"? I can understand why it may be fun to buy a new outfit, but not that way. Online, perhaps, but actually going out to buy something and going though all that just for some shoes? Not worth it.

Sorry for the mini rant and going off topic, folks.

Is it weird that I have obsessions but also like to shop and follow celebrity gossip? I consider celeb gossip a minor obsession - I check the sites constantly, and read the magazines. I don't discuss it all that much with other people though - I don't think it's important, just entertaining. I can't stand those reality shows like The Hills or whatever...totally not into that.

Wow. I relate to everything everyone has said here. Having "obsessions" is part of what makes me who I am. It's what makes life worth living. I can't imagine filling my time with the things that stereotypical NTs do. I hate how people can claim I don't have a life because I don't enjoy the typical things they do. To them having a life means spending most of your time socializing and trying to get laid. I would say they don't have a life.

I notice that our culture is obsessed over sex. Not that there's anything wrong with sex, but why is it seen as wrong to be more obsessed with something other than getting laid? Why does having a family and children make you "have a life". People who don't wish to reproduce like 99% of the population are somehow failures and "don't have a life".

Because it might mean the end of the Human race!

I always have a solutionless problem to roll around in my head (I picture it like a pebble rolling around the grey matter, like the inside of a rounder, less sparkly geode). Every few weeks, I change to a new, equally solutionless problem.

I attempt to deconstruct three-dimensional structures in my head sometimes. Usually when I'm on a bus, sitting on a bench, or something of that nature. In other words- bored out of my mind and away from my obsessions. I say "attempt", because some boob always has to interrupt me- the structure reconstructs itself, and I have to start all over again. Then the person makes the ingenious observation that I appear(ed) to be lost in thought, a million miles away.

Apparently I'm not far away enough...

At this point I think there are enough people in the world for the human race to survive if some people choose not to reproduce.

Unfortunately, one truism is that typically the people who reproduce in the greatest numbers are the ones who are too dumb to remember their birth control! (Or who really, really need to have someone sit down with them and explain the birds and the bees.)

I ignored this thread until now because I didn't feel I would have anything to contribute. But now I'm bored, so I thought I would read it just for the heck of it.

I thought, just by reading the title, and because of my continuing ignorance about AS, that it was going to be about losing your obsession. I figured that after 25 years of having my obsession, I wasn't going to lose it, so I would probably have nothing to contribute to this thread.

Well, I was wrong.

I didn't realize that part of being AS (is this part of being AS?) was that my obsessions would change from time to time.

I do this all the time. It's almost a relief when I have something upon which to hyper-focus.

Need a car? I will find you the best deal on the car you want, and tell you the gas mileage, what Consumer Reports says, all the faults of your particular vehicle, etc.

Moving to a new area? I'll tell you about the schools in the area, where they rate on greatschools.net or some other website, etc.

If I want to buy ANYTHING, I will have researched it until I'm sick of it, but at least I will know where to get the best deal, and everything about it.

I love obsessions. So does my husband.

In fact, I'm strating to think that my husband is an Aspie in disguise.

I don't want to derail the thread, but someone tell me. He hates people, he would rather be by himself, he has an obsession for RX7s (he owns 2 of them), and he's an engineer.

Okay, he's probably not an aspie based on those criteria alone, but it's kind of funny. He's an *ssh*le. I don't imagine he can be an Aspie.

My obsessions can definitely change over time. Sometimes even evolve.

As far as being an a**hole, I'm sure some Aspies are. It's a big world, after all. Furthermore, what kind of a**hole? Some a**holes are funny.

Apollyon, I've been noticing your posts. You're funny.

My husband is a funny a**hole.

But seriously, what if he was an Aspie in disguise? Are guy Aspies different from girl, do you think?

No, he can't be an Aspie. He's so controlling. Can an Aspie be controlling?

Soimeone should start a thread on this. How are guys and girls different from each other, even if they are both Aspie.

I always have kind of figured that it would be like unisex. Might be the first time I'm wrong this decade.

Actually, there was a thread about this recently (last 2 or 3 months?), but I tried to do a search for it and couldn't find it. Guy and girl Aspies are often very different from each other. This is why it's harder to diagnose a female with AS - they tend to "hide" their traits better, if I remember correctly...There's a lot more to it than that, though. Actually, when I read The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, there was a page or two specifically about female Aspies and it really made me think I might have AS, b/c the traits I lack can be explained by my sex, in a way...Hmm.

Anyway, what was this topic about? LOL. I agree about obsessions! And it's true that I grieve when an obsession is over; it feels like a break-up or something, really.