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How often do your interests change?

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vetwithAS
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24 Jan 2011, 7:21 pm

syrella wrote:
vetwithAS wrote:
Bloodheart wrote:
Sometimes they carry on being interests in smaller ways so not as intense as when they were "special interests", sometimes having a revival - I'll go through intense times with some interests, get distracted for a while with a new interest, but often go back to the original interest but maybe with a more specific interest


I've done this on a couple occasions, mostly when I was in my teens. Nowadays I have a hard time pinpointing anything in particular as a "special interest". Now it's more that my free time and thought process will focus more on one or two things, be it school work, cleaning my guns, or reading posts on WP. And it's no longer long term like my old interests in WWII and Warhammer 40k. These days my focus will stay anywhere from a couple days to a couple months.

That's great that you're able to focus on school work well. I still struggle with this one sometimes, though my grades are usually pretty decent. That said, there's a big difference in grades when there's a topic I'm very interested in versus one that I only sort of like. I love it when I'm able to get to this point.


That's one of my least stable focuses and it usually takes a time crunch in order to really focus. Like tonight, I have to finish a 1000-1500 word essay before I go to bed in 6 hrs and I have not yet even started on my research other than my required readings.



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24 Jan 2011, 7:45 pm

Some of last longer than others for me.

My very first real special interest, the planets, lasted for about 5 months. My second special interest, ferryboats, lasted about 9 months. Then my obsession, with the band, Great Big Sea lasted 2 months, then my roller coaster obsession, lasted about a year. I got obsessed with Great Big Sea again and that interest has been an interest that has faded in and out, but I have never totally let go of it. I have been interested in other things, alongside Great Big Sea since about 2008.


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OddDuckNash99
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25 Jan 2011, 1:11 am

When I get a special interest, my love for it never leaves. However, the definition of it being Asperger's-related (i.e. me rambling about it non-stop and unable to think/talk about anything else) only lasts, on average, 1 1/2-3 years. For example, my biggest special interest is and always will be I Love Lucy. But it only was in the rambling stage from ages 12-14. Now, I only ramble about Lucy when it is brought up in conversation or I've gone on a Lucy-watching binge. My last all-encompassing special interest was in the rambling stage from ages 18-21 1/2. Then, I found my latest all-encompassing special interest, and it is what is currently in the rambling stage.
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25 Jan 2011, 9:33 am

Hey, I've got this too!

It changes monthly, most of the time. Sometimes it could last up to six months, if my interest in the subject doesn't fade away.

During that time, it's an obsession, which could have some bad results once I'm no longer obsessed with it. Now I got this German course for nothing!
I was too impulsive...


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25 Jan 2011, 9:54 am

When I was younger, from 1-3 years. Now- 1-3 months. I wonder if things change mentally regarding special interests as you age.



alone
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25 Jan 2011, 11:14 am

Mine last a long time. One turned into my profession. It is a gift. I think it could have happened with many of my obsessions since I stay on them until either I exhaust the thing or it reaches the end somehow. I have many sidebar special interests that evolve, that is they don't change at a rapid pace. One of them is trash. The disposal, the landfills, the recycling, water treatment, and all the side industries. The new products created by recycling juxiposed against the rolling green hills of buried trash still being vented. The tiny slice of each individual's life and the giant barges that drag it over the ocean. It has this weird excitement attached to it, extremely overwhelming and disgusting. I like junkyards too and freaky collectors of junk...people that live in their little microworlds and believing it is a green existence. I like to study and think about the divisions in the world. How one side of town lives completely different from another side and how that is expressed in everything about them. I like to think about it on a global level too, how day to day life is so different everywhere but we are still all human beings. Things like what they think is a normal day, normal food..what they consider important or worthy or difficult. I'm overwhelmed everyone in this world is going about a day that is completely different than my day.

lol could go on for days ... have a million of them....like to study video games, play them, think about the target audience, read about them, test them...test myself...I like traffic stats, expressway planning...traffic patterns of planes...I like shipping logistics...mail logistics

lol :? still going on and on



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25 Jan 2011, 3:22 pm

My interests change often.

In college, my teacher's couldn't understand it, and even seemed to discourage it. One said
"Why are you studying fashion when you plan to get a business degree?" Many years later, it got me a job as an interior designer (actually visual merchandiser.) I was always under-employed, now on disability....but plan to change that in the future.

Anyway I find that as distant as my interests are, at some point, they combine into interesting things.



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25 Jan 2011, 6:25 pm

Kiseki wrote:
When I was younger, from 1-3 years. Now- 1-3 months. I wonder if things change mentally regarding special interests as you age.


That is a great question, and I would love to hear more responses.

When I was younger, my interests lasted longer, but were less intense. Typically, they lasted for years, but I could focus on other things like my classwork. When I was in grad school, my interest and my school work combined and took over my whole life. Now my interests only last for a month or so, but they interfere with my other activities.



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25 Jan 2011, 9:50 pm

I have big obessesions like Queen/Freddie Mercury or Medicine, which have lasted years. And then I'll have little 'in between' interests i.e. gnomes. That did not become an obsession, but I did become extremely fascinated in them.


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Kiseki
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25 Jan 2011, 10:36 pm

Yensid wrote:
Kiseki wrote:
When I was younger, from 1-3 years. Now- 1-3 months. I wonder if things change mentally regarding special interests as you age.


That is a great question, and I would love to hear more responses.

When I was younger, my interests lasted longer, but were less intense. Typically, they lasted for years, but I could focus on other things like my classwork. When I was in grad school, my interest and my school work combined and took over my whole life. Now my interests only last for a month or so, but they interfere with my other activities.


I think that is the main issue. Now that I am an adult and working and have to take care of buying groceries and cleaning my house and such, I don't have as much time to devote to my special interests as when I was a kid.



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27 Jan 2011, 6:34 pm

Kiseki wrote:
I wonder if things change mentally regarding special interests as you age.


In my childhood and teenage years, I would only have 1 or 2 special interests at a time and I would focus on only them and nothing else. As an adult, I find that I have about 5 or 6 major interests of varying intensity that I go between depending on my mood. However, they're still quite narrow because they all fall under the same category.



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27 Jan 2011, 7:32 pm

IdahoRose wrote:
Kiseki wrote:
I wonder if things change mentally regarding special interests as you age.


In my childhood and teenage years, I would only have 1 or 2 special interests at a time and I would focus on only them and nothing else. As an adult, I find that I have about 5 or 6 major interests of varying intensity that I go between depending on my mood. However, they're still quite narrow because they all fall under the same category.

That's interesting. I think it must have something to do with a child's versus an adult's mentality. For some people, they find that lots of topics are interesting and then eventually settle down to one topic. Or they could jump around from one subject to the next. I dunno, maybe there's another scenario when you grow up and find that several things interest you.