People who don’t hyperfixate will never know the slightly horrible, completely impossible-to-replicate feeling of being so intensely invested in something it possesses you, takes over your waking thoughts and rides some weird line between being excited, anxious, and stressed as hell while still being entirely some other beast.
For me the stages of hyperfixation go:
1. Initial interest. I like it, it’s on my mind, but it’s manageable.
2. Sudden obsession. This is the one that features the most strange needless anxiety. It’s new and I’m obsessed with it I wanna chew on it.
3. Dedication. The obsession is just as strong as it was in the previous stage I’m just more used to it. It is a part of my life now. I am actively chewing on it.
4. Casual commitment. Still obsessed, but it doesn’t dominate my every waking thought. Still thinking + talking about it tho.
5. Fading interest (ft. The Dread.) It doesn’t bring me as much joy as it used to, but I haven’t fully moved on.
6. Lost hyperfixation (ft. The Void.) I’ve based way too much of my life and opinions around liking this thing and now there’s that horrible emptiness because my brain took the dopamine hits away.
And occasionally:
7. It returns with a vengeance
8. It leaves quickly and the cycle repeats with a new interest or a returning one