There was a time when I used to think that the restricted/obsessive interests that are often a part of ASD didn't apply to me. More recently I've realised that to be wrong. Weirdly, it seems to be more the case as I get older, though that might have something to do with stress and less structure and overall direction in my life.
Anyway, I do just tend to get interested in one or two particular things for an extended stretch of time -- it has been great some of the time, but the rest of the time it's kind of unhelpful. I can't seem to choose what I become interested in, when I'm really absorbed in an interest it's hard to focus on something else even though I know it would be better for me to do a balance of things and theoretically I "want" to be able to focus on something else, and all of my interests (even my most passionate ones) fade away into nothing or go into some kind of hibernation for stretches of time where I'm not interested at all. Although, from all I've read and experienced I figure that's more to do with stress/depression than ASD.
I wish I could be one of those people who is genuinely interested in a variety of things. Again, I can theoretically find lots of things interesting -- I think everything has some interesting aspect to it, actually -- but I don't always "feel" it and it's hard to commit to or focus on a chosen thing unless it's an obsession/special interest. So I go back to whatever it is that my mind is stuck in, although it's going nowhere at this stage and I'm getting nothing out of it.
Does anyone have any tips on how to actually cultivate interest in more things? Maybe consciously trying to steer oneself away from obsessive interests, and committing to doing other things for a while even if not feeling into them at first? Can you relate, and if so has anything worked for you?
28 Mar 2015, 6:49 am
