Gossiping to cope with special interests

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One of my worst aspie traits is special interests and obsessions. It annoys me so much. It can ruin what would have been a perfectly good interaction.

My lifelong special interest related to glasses and optics has returned. I think I'll cope with it later by becoming an optician. I'll no longer be a nerdy teenaged girl obsessed with glasses. I'll just be an annoying person who talks a bit too much about their job. A lot of NTs are like that, so I won't be too weird. I think obsessing about my job will also win me some adult points instead of taking away NT points like it is right now.

Right now I cope with it by talking about something equally intersting to me. A lot of times that happens to be gossip. I've gotten in trouble because of that. Any better coping strategies than that? I'm getting pretty annoyed.

I take Neurontin/Gabapentin for OCD & I quit having special interests.

You could try making a list of topics beforehand, and come up with two or three comments you can make about each one. If you're meeting someone for the first time, small talk like the weather and current events will do, if it's someone you know, try starting a discussion about something you know they're interested in, and let them be the one to talk incessantly about something for a change. Keep in mind that discussing special interests isn't automatically an autistic failing, we have the right to discuss our interests as much as NTs have to discuss theirs.