Two Qu's

Post Reply New Topic

Basically:
1) is it true that if you don't feed a special interest ie don't read, watch, research, draw, play it does it slowly fade away?

2) if one is true, how long does it seem to take?

I think it actually not feeding a special interest seems to make it go away but I may come back to it years or moths later my special interests regenerate.

I have been deprived of my interests since February and I am becoming more and more depressed every day. I get beautiful ideas but have not time/means to attempt to execut them so even thinking about it makes me sadder.

It's true for me actually. If I don't ''feed'' my obsession, it will eventaully fade away, whether I want it to or not. This is why I am in a constant panic about losing my favourite bus service or the drivers all changing (because that is my obsession), because after about 9 months of not being able to see these particular bus-drivers, the obsession will start to fade away. The new bus-drivers will most probably be the new obsession, but right now I am attached to these ones and I don't want to lose them because I know all their names. New ones might not be so friendly, and I will be missing the old ones. Can't do anything about it though.

I don't think there are any "rules" or "truths" to it. It's different for each one of us, but you're bound to find that whatever your experience is, there are others with the same experiences.

In my experience, there are a lot of variables here. I have had various special interests over the years. Some have never gone away - even if I've set them aside, or tried to, they keep coming back. (Writing, fountain pens, letterpress printing, and certain aspects of World War Two would all fall in that category.) I do not think anything other than literal, physical injury to my brain could make those interests go away. They are too deeply rooted in who I am.

Then there are others, either ones I picked up due to circumstances, or perhaps was interested in for practical reasons. I might explore something in order to figure out if it is interesting, or learn it because I need it for another reason (such as research for my writing). Those interests will (mostly) go away if I ignore them. Depending on how deeply they touched me, a few of them may be easily revived by even a casual reminder. And with the exception of those I was always reluctant to pursue - ones I only developed reluctantly, and in order to further another interest - anything which catches my interest will take a while to fade away. Months, at least. Years, sometimes.

But although there are common factors in those interests I've left at least partially behind (such as the fact they aren't as essential to who I am) there are other factors which influenced how easily they "went away". If I was busy with another interest that really engaged me, they'd go away more quickly. If I wasn't - if whatever I was doing didn't satisfy me - then the original interest would cling and linger on until I found something to fill up the space it occupied. And except for the ones I chose to abandon, (as opposed to, say, being unable to afford to do as much as I'd like, or getting too caught up in another interest to keep it actively going), every interest I've ever had still exerts a pull on me. If I'm actually not interested any more and walk away, it tends to stay gone. If I'm still interested but for some other reason walk away - or it is torn away - then it remains slumbering just beneath the surface.

Sounds like you have a 'special interest' that you're ashamed of, or are distressed about for some reason. You dont have to be enslaved by whatever it is. You can find somethng else to put the energy into. Like school work.