HYPER-FIXATED

One of the places I have found on line that I enjoy visiting is a pediatric emergency medicine doc.  She is comfortable in her own skin and makes no bones about who she is.  She admits she has tried to conform to what the world thinks we should all model, but has the courage to be herself.   You never know what she will talk about on any specific day and she covers a wide variety of topics--NOT just emergency medicine.  Many times her posts are thought provoking, but almost all of them are entertaining with no vulgarity, no politics, no preaching etc. etc.  

That was the lead in to where I am going.  One of her recent posts, under the name "Doctor's Talk",  discussed being prone to hyper-fixation.  She was speaking of a coffee with a protein powder she has every morning, she admitted she was searching for a new morning drink after a long stretch of the same drink--morning after morning.  She said she was prone to being hyper-fixated.  I looked up the definition of hyper-fixation- the immense focus on one person, activity, or object and excluding or ignoring everything else.  WELL NOW-  there is another term for who I am---I have yet another diagnosis. Guilty as charged--I can become fixated with the best of them.  In fact I have been known to comment, "I am sick and tired of thinking about this and would love to be able to get it out of my head."    While I did some reading on my latest diagnosis, I came across this~

 

TMI---I can only think about one diagnosis at a time!  OH NO---I just confirmed my own diagnosis.

When she spoke of becoming fixated on one type of drink (or food), I thought of my everyday noon peanut butter sandwich.  Here I was thinking I like peanut butter and did not have to think about what I might eat if I just ate the same thing every day--not realizing I was hyper fixating.  Food is not an important topic for me.  I grew up eating to survive not surviving to eat.  Our family was not obsessed with meals--to say the least.  It never occurred to me this was a problem.  I do enjoy a good meal or fabulous treat as much as the next person, but I seldom think about--what I might eat next.  

While  looking at the above list of disadvantages, I know I come from a long line of depressed people, and I have openly admitted the letters OCD are listed after my name.  BUT---I never considered either a problem since my remedy for depression is exercise and I try to constructively use my OCD tendencies.  At any time when I see myself perhaps brushing my teeth obsessively, I consciously back off and allow 2 times a day to be plenty.  BUT my OCD served me well in my career.  Having admitted I love a yellow pad and list to you, it was a wonderful organization tool and time planner.  My list allowed me the freedom to prioritize and keep away from obsessive worrying over what I need to be doing  - which accomplishes nothing.

NOW---where in the world am I going?  The World likes to put us in categories and heavens knows we are fixated on dredging up our gene pool as a scapegoat for all that has gone wrong with us.  Are we all amateur psychologist searching for the reason for our failures or perhaps our successes?  Have we over-analyzed our weaknesses and failed to recognize they can be strengths?  Are we spending so much time examining our inner man than we fail to recognize Who created us?  Are we allowing The World to place us in categories---or are we seeking God's plan for our lives?

HUMM---another morsel of food for thought (pun intended)

"For we are His workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand,

that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:10