Obsessive compulsion is your friend

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by quantum_wave, Sep 13, 2014.

  1. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    A friend told me that when I was getting on myself for wasted time and effort on a project seemingly destined to fail.

    Is he right? I would like to think so, because if I see a slim possibility of success in a project, and failure is not going to be devastating, I often venture forth.
     
  2. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    18,935
    I'm confused.

    Your friend told you that you should pursue projects, even when you thought they were a waste of time?
     
  4. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    Lol, sort of. What he was saying was that we share some obsessive compulsive behaviors, maybe in different ways, but a friend is a friend, and so he is saying, "not that there is anything wrong with obsessive compulsive behavior", lol.
     
  6. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    Yet, how does one define 'wasted time'?

    In many projects, there are myriad false leads and trials, yet that does not make those efforts worthless or futile.

    It merely serves to narrow the possible paths to the objective.

    Therefore, the person who is mildly obsessive/compulsive in returning to the drawing board in face of those challenges is indeed blessed with a self-contained source of inspiration and energy.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  8. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    That's what I'm looking for; the bright side of OCD, lol. We don't have to be diagnosed OCD to have suspicious traits in that regard

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    .
     
  9. danshawen Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,951
    Unless you are a reptile, or there is something seriously wrong with your mammalian neocortex, OCD is something all humans must live with. Some of us seem to be able to master their obsessions or apply it to something positive (like doing science or engineering). Others cannot. If you cannot, your obsession will consume you. You will pursue love and companionship with someone whom, for reasons of their own OCD issues, may have no interest in you. You may obsess about religion (and we all know people who do that), and carry that obsession to fundamentalist extremes, along with all of the negative societal consequences of that. Or, like young engineer Howard Hughes as portrayed by Leo DiCarpio in The Aviator, you can obsess over getting the rivets in your airframes absolutely smooth, which made aviation history and Hughes a wealthy individual. Later in life, his OCD caused behaviors so aberrant as to be repulsive, but that's the rest of the story.

    Use your obsessions. Don't let them use you.
     
  10. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    Good advice and examples.

    I read that OCD has become part of our lexicon to describe someone who is "maticulous and absorbed by a cause". I guess we all have some aspect of that from time to time. When it becomes clinical and meds start coming into the picture, I wonder if anyone ever gets out of treatment, or if it is a life long situation?

    You mention channeling it into something positive: "Charles Darwin - 1809-1882 Naturalist, author; OCD and stutter. Darwin's many lifelong and serious illnesses have been the subject of much speculation and study for over a century. Darwin stated that his health problems began as early as 1825 when he was only sixteen years old, and became incapacitating around age 28. The exact nature of Darwin's illness or illnesses remain mysterious at this time. Unless sophisticated molecular probing of his biological remains is allowed, no definitive diagnosis can be reached. It has been speculated that one of Darwin's conditions may have been Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. - See more at: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/famous-ocd.shtml#sthash.MGYV0F6p.dpuf"
     
  11. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    16,603
    I have previously defined living a meaningful life as "making your obsessions portable." Since the rise of cellphones, this has become pretty much run of the mill. But I now doubt if hunching over a cellphone texting your friend equates to anything meaningful. At best it is the OCD need to shut out the rest of the world to comfort yourself with repetitive mental activity. Like keeping track of the cracks on the sidewalk to avoid breaking your mother's back.
     
  12. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    I never thought of my addiction to my cell phone and iPad that way ... until you mentioned it. They are portable obsessions! And they are obsessions of the this century when you think about when smart phones became everyday items. I saw where there are three billion of them out there now.

    And I can see your point about how we can use them to shut out the rest of the world, but what also comes to mind along those lines is someone putting the phone up to their ear and pretending to be talking so they don't have to engage with people around them.

    How well I remember saying when I was a kid, "Step on a crack, break you mother's back". Back then, when that was said we were careful not to. I wonder if there would be just as much caution with kids these days, or are they above that kind of nonsense and hit the first crack they see to end the game?
     
  13. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    16,603
    I have never owned a cellphone and am not interested in getting one. I hate being on the phone anyway,and much less so when I am out and about doing other things. I like to be in tune with my physical environment--enjoying the sights and sounds and smells of wherever I happen to be. I thus retain memories of my day in the context of real places I've been instead of blanking out over various times of the day when I was on the phone. As for having an excuse not to engage people, a book or magazine works just fine. But I suppose even that is a way of blocking out the here and now. People watching is a hobby of mine, like at the airport or in a park. I like to infer various things about people I see and imagine them being certain ways.
     
  14. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,738
    Your point of view sounds reasonable.
    But only if you have good reasons to believe that the project is not highly unlikely to fail.
    Otherwise you are likely to be wasting your time.
    In that instance, continuing in the same course would be stupid.
     
  15. danshawen Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,951
    Speaking of OCD and mobile tech; I just got my first iPad and I "love" it, but am not obsessed with it, although my wife might disagree with that assessment.

    I made it do as many things as my android phone can do (sans Facebook, Twitter). I really want the ability to render this device, like my android phone, unable even to mention these items except under a list entitled "uninstalled". That's sort of an obsession, I suppose. I want such mobile devices to be as capable of LIMITING social connections as they are of CRAMMING THEM IN YOUR FACE, and I WANT THEM TO DEFAULT TO THAT MODE unless I choose to make it otherwise.

    This is the way all of my social interactions have always worked in the real world, so why should my online experience be different? It's the same with commercial products (partners) as it is with my (very few) friends. I haven't looked at a Ford product since I learned that Henry consorted with Adolf. And maybe I don't want Vladimir or his cohorts peeking at my Facebook page, either. What if I ever wanted to live in the Ukraine? This is a different mobile world, and also a more gullible one we seem to live in. Freedom of Association is a guaranteed freedom in the United States according to the Bill of Rights. Don't let jerks like Mark Zuckerberg steal or otherwise mitigate that right, particularly not for their own benefit. Association(s) with individuals or with marketers, if any, is arrived at by mutual consent, and this social contract does not need something like Facebook to abrogate or facilitate it. To cede that right on the internet is the 21st century equivalent of giving telephone solicitors not only unlimited access to call you at dinnertime, but also to inspect your undergarments (or whatever else you may have purchased from Amazon online) whenever it suits them.

    Obessesive Compulsive is my friend. Mr or Ms psychopath, or megalomaniac, or someone just obsessed with ideas that can do me or others harm (and that's a very wide category) are not.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2014
  16. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    People watching is great great entertainment, but there is an element of embarrassment to it if it accidentally makes people self conscious. And then there is always the fear that someone will give you the line, "What are you looking at Buddy", lol.
     
  17. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    Now you are getting to the point

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    . When I start questioning myself about if I'm being stupid yet ... then I am consoled by the suggestion the obsessive compulsion is my friend. It is a win win situation. I get to pursue the course until I reach self doubt, and then fall back on "OCB (B for behavior) is my friend".
     
  18. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    Excellent perspective throughout.

    Our on-line behavior is a matter of record, and most services publish their privacy statement, and may even ask you to click "I accept". Then unless you opt out of their ad partner's focused pop ups, etc., you will be getting ads based on your searches. Maybe I don't want ads showing up on my Yahoo pages based on where I have been mucking around, lol.
     

Share This Page