Breaking the rules: Is bouldering obsessive behavior?

[Don]

I'm doing a little bit of research here, and I would appreciate your opinions: Are boulderers obsessive types? I mean, does bouldering attract certain personalities that are slightly or very obsessive in bouldering as well as in other aspects of their lives? I would like to get the perspective of those who are not purely boulderers and boulderers alike. All comments welcome.

[DavidWade]

I am a sport climber and I am highly obsessive

[Q20]

I can't shed light on bouldering, but I guess it would be fair to say I am fairly obsessive about exploring for new things to climb. Is it healthy? Well that's a tricky one, but it sure is ridiculously fun, for me at least. Which might be the key - I would say I am obsessive about having a good time, making the best of a day and being productive. Currently, finding rad new lines is a great outlet for this desire. At other times in my life it has been other activities.

[Don]

My coin has three sides: Rock, Math, Rock n' Roll. Whichever one is on, gets my undivided attention.(To the forgetting of everything else, including food sometimes)

[Ghaznavid]

I can't comment much about the climbing side - I am still relatively new to climbing (based on climbing hours and hardest routes done), but when it comes to hiking I tend to be very obsessive. I have done multiple hikes with the same objective due to prior attempts failing for various reasons, I systematically work through large areas of mountains with the objective of doing every pass, peak and cave. If there is a gully there that I think could be made into a pass, that's when I start to get really excited! 3 new passes on the Drakensberg pass list in the last 2 years. 5 possible ones on my to do list...

As far as others opinions, my brother says I can turn any conversation into something mountain related within 2 sentences, so I must be obsessive!

Sample conversation:
Me: I need to submit your tax return, please hurry up and sign it
Random Person: I will get to it soon, but I have a mountain of work
Me:

Earlier today via email I got my brother from e-tolls to the Drakensberg cablecar in 2 sentences...

[mattb595]

I think with bouldering a normal person looks at a boulder and just sees a boulder, but when we look at it we see gorgeous lines filled with potential problems and possibilities. We don't just see one line to the top we see a number of problems with loads of new exciting ways of getting there each with its own grade. So ya most guys that boulder do have a more creative side to them kinda like a artist with a blank canvas,except instead of a canvas there's a giant 10m high piece of granite and instead of a paint brush we have supper awesome miuru vs's and instead of paint we have a kg of chalk!.....other than that we identical!