Passion and obsession are two realities in which a person is highly motivated to make great efforts in a particular issue. The first of these two corresponds to a massive flow of emotional energy that causes one to go beyond his limits. The second paralyzes you, narrowing your boundaries or reducing options. However, obsession or obsessions will have a negative impact on your life, while passion can lead to growth and self-improvement.
Passion and obsession are phenomena that are actually quite different from each other but perceived as two similar realities. Hence, passion and obsession are realities contiguous to one side. In other words, you can start something passionately and then cross a certain border and suddenly find yourself on an obsessive route. Therefore, it can also be said that obsession is a state of extreme passion.
In this sense, it would be reasonable to say that passion and obsession are two sides of the same coin. Both of these subjective facts consist of great emotional attachment and an extremely high level of attention and focus. But one represents the constructive side and the other the destructive side.
You become what you think about all day long.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is necessary to understand the difference between passion and obsession. In most cases, passion and obsession follow a line of continuity dictated by external factors. It usually starts with some activities you love and suddenly find great joy and happiness. For example, the job is so attractive to him that the person becomes passionate about it.
Passion makes you devote a lot of time to this kind of work, and by setting the parameters of excellence with higher demands, you continually strive to improve your work. After that, success comes anyway, and with it the recognition and appreciation of such an activity by others, and that's where problems can arise.
In this case, external verification, apparently, can be a negative factor. What used to be spontaneous and enjoyable now becomes an activity used to gain positive reinforcement from others. You no longer enjoy the process, but only the result. So you start to become obsessed with this thing you used to passionately do.
Labyrinths of obsession
When you become obsessed with a particular activity because of the positive response you get from the results, the joy you get from that activity turns into anxiety. You begin to rely on the opinions of others, plus you become restless and stressed. Some studies even show that this addiction can lead to unethical behavior.
As a result, the need to receive an affirmative feedback from others gets out of control and your old passion turns into an obsession in an environment accompanied by restlessness and even disappointment. This addiction is not only emotional but also physical.
There is scientific evidence that this extreme concern for external approval releases dopamine into the body and becomes an addiction. This, of course, reinforces the addiction and the person judges everything under a completely different logic. Effort, even fatigue, and uncertain results are experienced at the same time. And these people may even feel the need to cheat to get that approval they desire.
Acting based on external approval Few people can completely isolate themselves from other people's opinions and reach a point where others' approval is not important. To do this, a highly developed mental infrastructure is required. So we can say that people at an average level of life experience will tend to act based on the approval of other people. After all, who doesn't want to be rewarded or appreciated for what they do? For example, most people feel some degree of satisfaction when they post something on social networks and someone "likes" the post, sees a friend request, or the number of followers increases. The secret to not being obsessed with the approval of others is to be aware of it. When you get 'liking' for something you say without any predictions, you have to understand that what really matters is that you express it and that others find it to be a nice thought. The rest is actually an extra of this work. Today, this may be at the point where it will receive approval or appreciation, but maybe not tomorrow.
