I'm in need of a phase

When I was a kid, I would get into “phases” - I would become obsessed with a particular interest or subject matter just because I could. From the ones I remember, there was a Greek mythology phase, the phase where I couldn’t stop reading ghost stories, the phase where I got really into making friendship bracelets, and a phase where I learnt everything there was to ever know about the members of Hanson.

When I was a teenager, there were fewer phases unless you count “being on MSN Messenger as frequently as humanly possible” as a phase. Certainly, my phases were mostly extremely online or tech-based. The LiveJournal phase, the Guitar Hero phase, and the pop-culture blog phase of 2004-2005.

I did go through phases as an adult, but they were always motivated by gaining more social, career, or financial capital. The nail art phase got me likes on Instagram. The web animation phase got me speaking gigs at conferences. Probably the longest-running phase or interest of my life - web development - is also my primary source of income.

At some point, I stopped learning about things I was interested in just because I could. I stopped having unique interests at all. I got used to plopping myself in front of a feed every day that fed me whatever everyone else was interested in that day.

I want to find a new phase, but I’m unsure how to. I’m starting with removing the regular feed checking so my brain has space to breathe and come up with its own ideas. I’m going to read more fiction books. Hopefully, I’ll find something to go down the rabbit hole on soon.