The other day, one of my kids asked what our hyper-fixations were currently.

Yes, our family dives DEEP when we take an interest in a topic. This a cultural norm for us. Some of our hyper-fixations are lifelong; others last until we move on to a new one. When my family members get fascinated by something, they lock on.

Some of my family members’ topics of curiosity: Elvis, WWII, Bones series, many other TV series, Van Gogh, basketball, video games (many genres), cowboy shows, crafting (many forms), home brewing, baseball, football, comic books, angel figurines, trains. This is by no means all of them. I only have a 20 minute window to get this blog written.

According to my mom, my hyper-fixation is bloody corpses because she passed by me reading a few too many forensic investigation books in the past couple months. Our library is remodeling, and the first stack I stumbled upon was the section on true crime, so that is what I have been bringing home and reading. Is this a new interest? Ha.

When I was in junior high, I was fascinated by vampire tales and reading about real-life vampires–my mom would tell my classmates to not worry about whatever book I was glued to, I was really quite harmless. When I got to high school, I read everything I could get my hands on about Charles Manson and his atrocities. I am quite happy that man and his followers stayed in prison for the rest of their lives (most of them), but it was riveting reading. As an adult, I still find forensic science fascinating and like to read about it. It’s really no wonder my children like to watch Bones.

I don’t know if I would call sketching a hyper-fixation for me. It is a hobby, and I spent many hours practicing, drawing the same topic repeatedly until I was happy with the result. I like to go to art museums, but I don’t know every little biographical detail about artists or their works.

Gotta say cats are definitely a passion of mine. I laid eyes on my first cat when I was a toddler, and that never went away. I haven’t been cat-less since I was 3, and it will probably stay that way unless I get stuck in a home when I am old.

Music–yep, that is probably a hyper-fixation. My preferred genre that I tell people is 80s hair bands. The genre many people don’t know about is 50s and 60s bubblegum pop and do-wap. I also like barbershop quartets and a capella groups. One era I really am not a big fan of is 70s–there are songs here and there that I like, but they are rare. But 80s hair bands… I listened to songs repeatedly and wrote the lyrics down. I drew the artists’ tattoos. I created word search and crossword puzzles about bands and artists. I plastered my walls and ceiling with their posters. Yep–probably know more than the average GenX about some hair bands.

I don’t think hyper-fixations are a bad thing. If you are interested in something, go learn about it! Life is about learning and exploring, so drink deep in the fount of knowledge and pop culture and enjoy yourself. Eventually you might stumble upon someone else who shares your interest, and that is a glorious thing.