Obsessions

I'm reading a book by Jon Krakauer, who mainly writes about mountain climbing adventures. At one point Krakauer ruminates about why people come to be obsessed with activities like climbing mountains. He writes:

"Obsession is a funny thing. One can only speculate what quirks of chromosomal architecture cause some people to go overboard on Rotisserie League baseball, while others become Shriners or dedicate their lives to growing the perfect tomato; who's to say why Rick Fisher [a famous mountain climber] has wrapped his life so tightly around the canyons of the desert Southwest?"

Recently I've been wondering along those same lines. With the arrival of Spring it seems everyone is getting outside and becoming active in an endless array of activities: biking, hiking, fishing, camping, tennis, golf, gardening - the list goes on and on. What makes a person pick up one activity or hobby instead of another? What makes one person insanely preoccupied with tying fly-fishing flies while another spends every spare moment rebuilding cars and driving them hundreds of miles each weekend to car shows?

Like Krakauer, I don't have the answer why we pick the obesssions we do. I suspect there are probably many diverse reasons - Freudian and otherwise - why we take up certain obsessions. I do know this though - find yours - discover what it is that gets your blood pumping and makes your mind clear and focused, and you are blessed. You will never be bored again; you'll always have something interesting to do, or think about, or to spend your hard-earned cash on. Something to think about...eh?