Only so much room in my brain

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Anyone else feel like this sometimes?

Say for example 'special interest' - I've heard a few others say that once they pass onto their next 'special interest' that the last one seems to just drop out of their head, even if it was something they dedicated themselves to for months/years/decades.

I've experienced this, past 'special interests' of mine include ancient Egypt, geology, and religion - I was an expert, particularly with geology (won awards, head-hunted for expeditions, all the schools wanted me)...now I couldn't tell you a thing about these subjects.

I was thinking earlier today that even when I lose this knowledge I still think something of it exists, for example I cannot clearly discuss or explain topics relating physics or IT (past areas which I was very good with) yet there remains something there that allows me to have an understanding of these things on some level, almost an instinct with past 'special interests' or knowledgeable subjects.

I wonder if me - or we - are only capable of keeping so much information in certain parts of our thinking or memory, or that we're not as capable of accessing information once it crosses over into our long-term memory...

...anyone else any thoughts on this?

I guess inhibited access to the long-term memory and fragmentation of the stored information both responsible for this effect. When I try to remember my previous interests or a subject I was good at once I feel that some of the information is just lost and some I can remember if I tried many ways to work around the inhibitions in my mind and hit the right triggers. Sometimes what I get is barely more than a deja vu.

I do remember a lot. I still remember the full address and birthdays of the people who I had finished being obsessed with a few years ago. Well, I remember it if I think about it - which I don't because they're not my obsession any more.

When I was doing driving lessons, I always got worried that I won't ever pass my driving test because of not having enough space in my mind to remember all the things I need to remember, because of my mind being too full of my current obsession (and partly my past obsessions too, which are slowly fading away but there will always be a part of them in my mind that I remember of).

I used to be really obsessed with Spanish (this was practically my first obsession I had, what started when I was 12), and I finished this obsession at 13, but I can still count upto 20 in Spanish now, and say a few other words.

I have a very selective memory. I remember details that most people would never care about, but miss details that others would consider important. I've only ever really had one *big* interest (video games), and it has never changed my whole life, so I haven't forgotten much about my history with that.

But as far as whether there's a limit to how much I can know... well, I don't do very well at learning things that are boring or uninteresting to me. For example, my dad has to help me with my banking a lot because I just can't process it. There's so many terms and text that I just can't understand it... I admit, this may be partly because I don't really want to understand it... it's completely uninteresting to me. I can't learn the terms, they just go in one ear and out the other. I can look at the papers, "read" them, and take no information away from it. It's like my brain doesn't even have a place for it.

Don't feel bad - I don't remember anything about my past special interests either. Only 2 or 3 years ago, I could have rattled off the names of every voice actor for the English dub of the Hellsing anime/OAV, but these days I barely remember any of them. Also, my mom tells me that when I was a child, I had a major obsession with dinosaurs - but I barely remember having that obsession to begin with, let alone any facts about it.

Well, I think that if you don't use knowledge on a regular basis, you will probably lose it, it's just human nature. The brain can only hold so much in active memory. I used to be obssessed with 60s music and know all kinds of facts about them, I probably remember half of what I knew then now, if that. Makes room for new stuff though so it works out.