How to deal with intense, but short term special interests?

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Right now I'm obsessed with accordions. This special interest is super annoying. I've been trying to suppress it since I was fourteen(I'm seventeen right now.) It was easier back then because I had other special interests to distract me. Now that my other special interests have burned out, it is harder to suppress this one. I've tried redirecting this interest by playing piano and violin. This works for a bit, but I get bored of those instruments fast. I technically could learn to play it, but I'm embarrassed about this obsession. Accordions are also expensive and I doubt this interest will last more than three years if I start playing. It will probably burn out like my other interests. I wish my special interests could either stay or not come in the first place.

Weird Al Yankovic has made a fortune playing the accordion. If it interests you, I don't see why it matters what other people think of it. Some people will make fun of others for reading books - these people are called illiterate idiots, and their opinions are as useless as their double digit IQs.



Some special interest obsessions come and go, others don't - its hard to know which an interest will turn out to be until you pursue it and give it a chance, but in the long run it doesn't matter - every ounce of knowledge you absorb makes you a deeper, more complex, well-rounded, unique and interesting person.

Sounds like music in general is already a pretty absorbing special interest for you, by all means add the accordion to your repertoire. Maybe you'll end up being a music teacher at some point and every instrument you can personally play will make you better at the job. Or maybe Hollywood will make a historical period piece and need someone who knows how to play the accordion to flesh out a scene and make it realistic. Or maybe like Yankovic and others have done, you can use it as a comedy prop. You could end up living in a European country where the accordion is still a popular folk instrument, or just use it to make some extra cash every Autumn at Oktoberfest.

I have a friend on the Spectrum who collects trumpets, makes Native American flutes by hand and is an accomplished singer. I can't sing or play anything, but I collect recorded music like a fiend and have a head full of pop music trivia. My Mother used to tell me "No amount of education or knowledge is ever wasted," - meaning even if you aren't using it to make a living, just having it in your database makes you a richer personality.

Besides, fewer and fewer people are bothering to learn the accordion, someone needs to keep the instrument alive, just for the sake of history and posterity.

The best advice I can give is to just enjoy your special interests while they last. Don't beat yourself up for not having lifelong interests; changing interests is just part of the way your mind works.

Though I do understand how you feel. My special interests never last longer than 2 years at a time (at most - sometimes I have really short term interests that last only a few months!) It can be frustrating because when the interest ends, it's like losing a good friend. Not to mention that all the stuff I bought that was related to it goes into storage... I often find myself wishing that my special interest could be lifelong, or at least last something like 5 years at a time instead of only 2!

I definitely agree with Willard. Learning how to play the accordion is not a waste, especially not if you enjoy it. People always ask me why I care about, or even bother with math, when I am a musician and a writer. They don't realize that the more you learn, whatever subject it is, the better off you'll be. Because I knew so much about math, and how to sit down and deconstruct a problem to solve it, I became better at figuring out other problems, outside of the "math world". It has also helped me to understand music when I try to read it. Sure, I'm not a scientist or a mathematician. But knowing it, and knowing that I can learn something "outside" of my field, has been a great help in my life.

Don't worry about being embarrassed. If your friends don't want to hear accordion music, then you don't have to play for them. Maybe you'll stick with the accordion, and maybe you'll make money performing or teaching it. Maybe you won't. But it can't hurt to learn, and if you're having fun, then that's all that matters. The skills you gain from it are surely transferable.

I say jump in with both feet. Take it on and ride your obsession out. Make the most of it. Learn everything you can from it. Be the best accordian player out there. Just do it.

Obsessions come and go.
I find I can't let go of one until I've exhausted it.

Well, go buy an accordion, silly! Three years of enjoyment... you're lucky. My shortest-lived obsessions have passed in a matter of days. Utterly obsessed, twenty-hour days, but still days.

Don't be embarrassed. This is how your brain works. This obsession won't hurt you, it won't hurt anyone else, it won't cost too much unless you're really, really short on cash, and, if you manage your time properly, you should be able to keep up with your everyday responsibilities.

I think you came here knowing very well that we weren't going to say "You must stay away from accordions at all costs!" I think you knew it was okay to get fascinated with accordions, and you wanted people to reassure you that it was okay. That's probably what I would have been thinking to myself, at least subconsciously, if I asked a question like that.

I'm laughing reading all this and the other thread, Callista said it best, just go get an accordion and enjoy it! Be glad you haven't developed an intrest in something stupid that is actually inapproprate, illegal, impracticle or something like that. Accordions i'm sure are fun to play.

Surely an unhip instrument like accordion could be acquired used, cheap. Whichever, it is a keyboard, the universal music-maker. I think you have it easy; I spent 5 years reading Marx, Engels & Lenin. Imagine how many wedding gigs that got me.