Rediscovering Old Special Interests

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I'm assuming other people have had this happen, but I guess you could say that I've recently rediscovered an old special interest of mine, one that goes all the way back to my childhood.
Sharks, reptiles, and amphibians were an interest of mine by the 1st grade, I know that for sure. I know my interest in them remained through grade school. I'm not sure when I stopped being involved in learning, reading, and writing about them, but probably by the 6th grade I'd stopped focusing on them. Within the past 5 months my interest in them has come back very strongly. I'm not back into sharks, but I definitely am back into reptiles. Oddly though, for whatever reason, insects and spiders are catching my attention and I'm spending time reading about them as well.

I'm actually very, very happy about this. It feels really, really good to have this interest back. It kind of feels safe? Does that make sense?

This makes sense to me. I've rediscovered an old special interest in marine life that I had as a kid. There was never anything quite like the aquarium for me.

I love when this happens!

I love rediscovering special interests as well. Sometimes you just need a change of pace, you know? Or for some reason or another you can't keep pursuing your current interest (money, access to resources, etc.). There is also a certain comfort in it--like rediscovering a part of yourself.

I do like reconnecting with old interests. One day I will learn not to get rid of books and such when I lose interest in something; otherwise, when I later resume interest I have to accumulate stuff anew.

After a bad Canada Day in 2009, I've done a lot of thinking over the summer months. I've come to the conclusion that I really needed to go back to a happier time in my life and rediscover some old interests that made me very happy. Since I've rediscovered The Kinks, Swinging London and Routemasters that September I've been happy. I've bred new life into my mental, emotional and spiritual well being. I also have a lot more energy.

I am really enjoying the last few days of reading about things. It's so much different than when I was a kid. All I had back then was encyclopedias (not even a full set) and one or two books that were about all animals, not just the ones of my special interest. The internet has made it seem like a completely new world. I've been gathering facts and pictures and putting them in their own tagged section on my Tumblr blog. It's nice to have things all in one place without spending hours upon hours handwriting it all. I still can't wait to get my hands on an actual book about leopard geckos (I own one named Oatmeal and I'm about to get another for my birthday at the end of next month, which I'll name Potato).

it does feel great to go back to old interests. I was interested in snakes as a kid, even planned to be a herpetologist, but then shifted to astronomy, orchids, well, you know the pattern. I had all these little "golden guide" books that I'd study obsessively. They often defined my interests, a book for reptiles and amphibians, one for orchids, astronomy, cacti, ferns...

Not long ago I revisited developing my own black and white photos and it was a lot of fun and I know what you mean by feeling safe. Chess and rubik's cube also take me back.

Sadly nothing lasts terribly long for me, although each time I'm sure I've found the one thing I'm going to be interested in forever.

Although, I'm starting beekeeping and learning string theory and now I finally have the interests which will last me forever!

If my interests are considered special interests, then they are mostly cyclic in nature; I 'rediscover' my special interests all the time.

For example, this game: Link

It's a 3+ game, but I've gone back to playing/modding/talking about it way too many times in my life to the point that my family (especially grandparents) thought there was something mentally wrong with me. Obviously it's not as intense as when I was younger because now that I'm 18 I don't go around pretending that I'm a Norn from that game etc, and I've grown out of it for the most part. My username is a nickname given to me when I was younger which was based on the creatures in that game.

_________________
Unapologetically, Norny.
-chronically drunk

I just rediscovered playing guitar. I didn't play for a long time because of chronic pain. It's good to make music again.

About two months ago, I rediscovered my love for Pokemon. When I had first gotten into it, my age wasn't even in the double digits. Back then, it was all about the creatures and battles. This time, though, my focus is much more centered around the human characters.

Their designs and personalities are just as diverse and colorful as the Pokemon they train/interact with. What's really neat is that, thanks to the fact that Pokemon games get released every couple of years, there have been dozens upon dozens of new human characters for me to study. My "studies" are possible thanks to the fact that a very detailed wiki exists for all things Pokemon called Bulbapedia (click)

However, no matter how many new characters get introduced, I still have the biggest soft spot for the Generation I characters (esp. from the games). They almost feel like "old friends" in a way, because I first "knew" them when I was only a kid. For this reason, I really liked the Pokemon Origins miniseries, because it was basically a love letter to those of us who grew up with the Gen I video games, rather than following the path that the anime took. I especially liked the way that Origins handled the characterizations of Professor Oak and Giovanni. But now I'm just getting off on a tangent. ^^;

And, I definitely agree with the OP that revisiting old interests is a comforting thing. I first regained my interest in Pokemon when my nephew was born, which was a pretty chaotic time in my life. After things settled back down, my interest in Pokemon waned a bit. Now that that same nephew is currently hospitalized with a severe illness and things are even more chaotic than they were before, I found that my interest in Pokemon is kicking back into high gear.