In Defense of Temporary Obsessions by Anitka Shah

We scorn the dilettante and dismiss the amateur, but these are their origins: dilettante from the Italian "dilettare" which means to take delight and amateur from the Latin "amator" which means lover.

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In a world that wants mastery or monetisation as the outcome of every fleeting interest, temporary obsessions are little rebellions. Their purpose is to restore order in the playground that is your life.

. . . all are imprints of our curiosity, evidence that we once let ourselves fall in love deeply with something new and wildly outside of our comfort zone.

Temporary obsessions are always timely. They arrive after a heartbreak, during a career crisis, in grief. 

And lastly, these obsessions aren’t distractions from something more “real” out there, they are what’s real. So the next time you find yourself inexplicably drawn to analyzing one-shot techniques in films at 2 AM or spending an entire weekend learning to make the perfect dumpling, don't resist. Return to the playground that is your life.