How does preoccupation change peoples lives?

Answer 1

Almost every trait, characteristic, problem, etc. can have a direct negative, as well as a direct positive.

As an example, many children are called "stubborn" when they refuse to do what an adult wants the child to do. So these children associate being stubborn as a negative quality or trait. But, the opposite of stubborn is "tenacious", the trait to keep trying, keep going, keep working on a problem.

So preoccupation as a trait can also be negative OR positive. As one example, someone might say "Sally has a preoccupation with her clothes. She always wants to wear fashionable clothing and look well dressed." Many people might think that is a negative trait, that no one should be as preoccupied with clothes as Sally seems to be!

However, after High School, Sally moves to New York City to do an internship with a famous fashion designer. She works 15 hours a day, learning as much as she can from the designer. Sally later applies to a university, with a double major in fashion and marketing and continues to work on weekends with the fashion designer. She shows the designer some of the sketches she made in high school and asks for feedback, which the designer gladly gives. Before Sally graduates from college, the designer has already offered her a job as a Lead Stylist.

In the example given, the trait of "preoccupation" was viewed negatively by some people in a certain situation, yet, the same trait was viewed positively by other people in a different situation. Indeed, anyone who actively pursues an interest or passion can be called "preoccupied" with that particular topic. Artists spend hundreds of hours to create one artistic work. Writers construct stories, revise, and re-revise, spending hundreds of hours working their craft. Medical students engage in long hours of instruction and work, over 6 years, to pursue a medical degree. A high school student may be preoccupied with earning good grades, which makes the person study, memorize, and learn the material. The examples of the positive side of preoccupation are endless.

Preoccupation as a true negative usually means when a person focuses on a topic, subject, other person, or on his or herself with no meaningful daily outcome or drive toward a reasonably achievable long term goal. As an example, a preoccupation with porn/sex, food, looks, or with a celebrity crush may be only a negative trait, especially when there is and can never be any meaningful and productive outcome. A preoccupation with weight and dieting can lead to negative consequences, such as Anorexia or Bulimia, or malnutrition, extreme weight loss, and other body changes to electrolytes and blood values; the person's preoccupation to be thin can end up with the person hospitalized, on IVs, with dark circles under their eyes, pale skin, feeling weak, etc.