Periods of Time with No Special Interests?

Post Reply New Topic

I haven't had a proper special interest in a while now and I am starting to feel a bit depressed and aimless. Is it possible to have times like this? I also find, now that I've gotten older, that my special interests don't last very long. For example, anywhere from 1 day to a few weeks, 3 months at the most. When I was little they could last years.

Is there something that happens in the AS mind as it ages where special interests are no longer at the forefront? Frankly though, I really need one right now

I have noticed my special interest not lasting as long as they used to as well. But I never had one last for only a day or a few weeks. And my special interests are still very much in the forefront of everything and everyone else.

I only feel this way just about all the time, perhaps more so because I realize I'm not good at those I like to do. Used to draw cartoons and comics and stuff every day. Now it's only ever when I'm feeling really inspired or creative, which could be up to a year apart.

I know what you mean OP. I also get depressed when I don't have a special interest. I'm also finding that my special interests don't survive much beyond a month these days. So I have to be so careful when I do start to get interested in something that I don't rush out and buy lots of equipment and materials for it... as I've learned the hard and expensive way that this is a big fat waste of money I don't have to waste.

Actually, things have got much harder since around the age of 35 (I'm 39 now). I can't stay interested in things for very long at all now. When I was younger my interests would last for up to a year. Those were the good old days... I got quite good at many things.

At least my interests have always been around the arts... usually visual arts where my strengths are.

I just wish I could stay interested in something for long enough to make a career from it. I also have ADHD-I which makes things so much harder.

Does ASD get worse as you get older? Seems to be with me. Hope you find a special interest soon OP.

I've found as I've gotten older and had to look after myself and take on responsibilities that its harder to find the energy to pursue special interests even though the desire is still there. Not having the energy to do those things really brings the mood down... if I do find the time and energy to follow special interests (whether they are old or transient new ones) I feel a great sense of relief and relaxation. There are times I feel I no longer have special interests but I think that's just because I feel if I haven't done something in a while its no longer relevant however when I actually get back to something I usually find it is still relevant.

I know the feeling that comes from not having a special interest. I've been there a couple of times over the past year when my level of obsession towards my main special interest has hit low points. It's a terrible feeling when you don't have something in your life that excites you and gives you something to look forward to every day when you wake up. It makes you feel so empty inside, not to mention frustrated when you can't seem to find anything that clicks when you go "hunting" for a new potential special interest.

My interests don't last as long as they used to, either - I remember that during my childhood, I had a special interest in the animated movie Balto which lasted from age 5 to age 13. In the present, 8 years is over twice as long as my special interests tend to last. Ever since I was a teenager, my special interests have lasted no longer than 3 years.

Thank you for the responses, older folks like me I'm glad to hear some of you can relate.

It's been a good 6 months since I had a special interest and it's driving me crazy! I think I've learned and researched everything I want to at the moment. I can't force interests either, they just come like a wave and then go. What's been the longest time you've gone with no special interest?

Of course I am still interested in all of the things I've been interested in since childhood, but not to the degree I once was. Recently I got obsessed with North Korea while I was home sick with a cold and I did nothing but watch NK documentaries for 3 days straight. Then I bought every memoir I could find on Amazon, read those, and the interest quickly went away. My dad seems to be the same way. My mother says he will get on the internet and spend an entire day researching something, then be done with it.

To BunnyMum, I DO think ASD can get worse with age. I've noticed, since I moved away from home and don't have constant people around me anymore, my AS traits have definitely gotten worse.

Oh, I know that feeling. It's terrible. But it does not take long, usually, and I find something new.

I often realize that there are so many things I could be interested in. I think you should be able to allow yourself to indulge in something.

Without special interests, I don't think life would be worth living. My special interests haven't gotten shorter over the years or even changed all that much. I get short spurts where I have no interests and it is very depressing.

I have those periods occasionally, and if they last a month or more, they are always a red flag for a depressive episode for me. If that is so with you, then you should probably go to your shrink and nip it in the bud before it leaves you tired, unmotivated, and pretty well useless for half a year.

But it could just be that you haven't found something that sparks your interests yet. If you're not in that tired, dull, anxious, no-way-out sort of mood that depression puts you in (if you've ever had it you know what I'm talking about) then I wouldn't worry about getting depression. In between interests, in the days or weeks before I find another one, I tend to feel bored and out of sorts, but not outright depressed. It's when I lose interest in things that I know by rights I would want to do if only I had the energy that I know I've got trouble. If there's a feeling of, "I've learned all I can about this; time to move on to something else," then that just means I'm in-between interests and something new will come along shortly.

You probably just need to go and try different things, see what you might want to get into. Maybe this is an opportunity--go to the library, run your finger along the books, see which books make you want to take 'em home. Or browse the Net with a tool like StumbleUpon to get different sites that are relevant to you. Follow the news, if you like current events. Go back to an old interest.

It's annoying not to have something to spend your time on, isn't it? My sympathy, seriously. I don't often say "I know how you're feeling" but in this case I think I do! I sometimes wish I had lifelong interests like so many Aspies seem to have, instead of interest binges that come and go and are ridiculously intense while they last.