Every once in awhile I become completely obsessive over someone or something. The objects of my obsession all relate to my deepest passions in life in one way or another. I love studying people who are doing exactly what I want to be doing or things that trip my heart a little. Here are some of my recent and past obsessions:

1. Sylvia Plath: her intelligence, way with words, and desire to follow her writing dreams. I don’t like to delve too deep into the dark side, but I think her writing is genius. I’m a little bit of a nerd when it comes to reading scholarly articles that analyze her works, just don’t tell anyone.

2. JK Rowling: her background story is riveting. Her keen intelligence and humbleness makes her oh-so-likable. The way her ingenious, detail-driven mind works is astounding. I love how protective she is of her own creation too. She will never sell out to anything that doesn’t completely match her vision. I never hear ego when I hear her speak, I just hear a passion for her creation.

3. Creative, playful, self-driven girls making their own ways in the world like Ginny, Amy, Elsie and Rachel. I have to go back and read earlier posts just to soak up as much as I can. I find that when I steep myself in all their charm, beauty and creativity, it jumpstarts the inspiration in my own life. A big thanks!

4. Zee Avi music: my soul does a happy little skip when her voice comes on my Pandora channel.

5. I somehow can’t soak up enough podcasts about thinkers, ideas, literature, big dreams, fitness, and weird science. I will be a student until the day I die.

6. Diana Vreeland: I can’t help it, but I’m hooked. I read her biography, researched her life and fell in love. Yes, there’s the arrogance, but she has no apologies for it. I just think it’s riveting how she pretty much inspired fashion in her time. She didn’t just track fashion trends in Vogue, she actually dictated fashion to the world. She knew exactly what she wanted and never wavered even a smidgen. I got stuck on Jackie O for the same reason–she had vision. I like that.

7. Mad Men: A friend and I started watching the series at the same time just because we thought it looked neat. “Looked neat” is such an understatement, no? The clothes, the interior design, the juicy plots, the inside look at the advertising world (I’m a copywriter, I can’t help it). I’m in a love/hate relationship with the moodiness, but it’s better than frothiness if you ask me.

8. Christian Hedonism: I’m reading Desiring God by John Piper (bless him!). I want to lap up every last drop. Who knew Christians were really supposed to be that happy? My spirit is growing from having a solemn attitude (which has its place in certain contexts) about faith to a downright giddy one. It’s exciting!

9. Oprah’s LifeClass: I’m not going to be trite and gush about how Oprah has changed my life, but you have to respect the woman for her self-built empire and unprecedented gallery of information. That said, I’m finding the LifeClass immensely groundbreaking for curating a life built upon my deepest, most pure potential. Even some of those listed above have been creative, lifestyle role models and have helped me realize some key things about myself and what I want to accomplish.