A note about [healthy] obsessions

If you haven't talked to me in the past few weeks or haven't checked out the History on my internet browser you might not know that I've been cultivating a growing obsession with road bikes. I know this because C is starting to poke fun of my incessant mental clogging of thoughts about bikes, buying bikes, building bikes, riding bikes, and visiting the bike co-op.

I've been developing a theory about the importance of minor obsessions: if you want to get good at doing or knowing something, you should get obsessed with it. When I was in junior high I became obsessed, to the max, with skateboarding. Now, I don't mean to suggest that I am or ever was good at skating, but let's admit, I got pretty not-bad. I wanted to read every magazine until its pages were falling out; I wanted to watch every video until every trick was memorized. I wanted to embody the sport by wearing the shirts of skateboard companies and dress like my favorite professional skateboarders. I drew logos of those companies from memory on my school notebooks and the soles of my shoes. I skated every day, snow or shine, and took afternoon naps on the half-pipe in my backyard. My mantra was "Skate or die."

In high school, I developed an obsession with "punk" music. It was important to me to seek out and listen to all bands that were ever cited as influential in punk rock history. (Fortunately, I should note, skateboarding and punk rock were assumed to go hand-in-hand, so that relationship continued.) I wanted to get involved in the core punk scene in Cincinnati, know the "anybody who's anybody," and get known. I wanted to be be hip to all the obscure bands found on the patch of every punk kid's jean jacket. Maybe I got near the top of the scene... I was in a couple of bands and knew a lot of really good and generous kids in a few different cities across a couple state's boundaries. Maybe this example isn't as illustrative of my point as the skateboarding one...

My point is, it was really the obsession that kept my devotion, fueled my determination, and resulted in my self-defined success. So, whatever it is you hope to learn or get involved with: get obsessed with it.

I hope C is mostly supportive of my latest craze. I think she is. I'm trying to keep it curbed, realizing that I have more important priorities to give attention to: like my beautiful wife and my adorable puppy. Still, how cool is it to have a really nice hipster bike that would command the envy of hipsters everywhere??? Seriously.