Your special interests - a few questions

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Not necessarily. Sometimes there is.



Not necessarily, in some cases (such as fanfiction - when that was my special interest I wrote stories for others to read. When my special interest was reading fantasy, it didn't really serve any practical use to anybody else).



Every spare minute of every day. When I had more spare time (had less work/uni/unavoidable social commitment) over 50 hours a week. I would often be awake on weeknights till 4am in the morning engaging in my special interest, then get up at six to keep going so I could squeeze in another 2 hours before school. Then I would sleep all day in class. This is why I just scraped by in school until my final two years (when my special interest conveniently became getting good grades - I would obsess over getting the highest A's possible, and spend hours and hours perfecting homework to achieve that. I then was up till 4am every night doing school work ).



Not necessarily. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It depends on the interest. Probably mostly not.



The special interest generally enriches my knowledge in some way, and in most cases brings deep satisfaction.



I cannot survive without a special interest, pure and simple. Special interests to me are literally like food and water. They also are the colour in my world, without which I live in greyscale.

But at the same time, special interests can also become a nightmare because you can't control what they are. I don't choose my special interests; they just happen. The last two years is a good example of that. First my interest became losing weight - and I obsessed over that every day and every night (trying to eat exactly what would make me gain the minimum, exercising at random hours of the day, staring in the mirror at different angles and trying to pull my stomach in - I could spend hours doing this).

It was horrid, because (using my analogy) it was like suddenly all I had to eat was stale bread and drink was sickly orangle ale or something - but obviously I had to keep eating and drinking to survive.

Then, after almost a year when I finally shook off that interest (for the most part - it still lingers, but it's not dominant), it only got worse. My new special interest became my career direction. Sounds harmless right? Well, it only worked me up into a state of constant anxiety and depression. Endless career possibilities swirled round and round in my head, I researched every university program and course under the sun, I created mind-maps listing the pros and cons of different careers, I talked about it to my friends until they couldn't take it anymore. And the depression and anxiety just kept getting worse (because I felt like I was running out of time, and if I didn't "find" the career I would end up on the streets unable to support myself).

Shook that off somewhat at the cost of a massive breakdown and being diagnosed with depression, but now my current "interest" appears to be WP. And I just don't find it satisfies the need in me. There is not enough scope for learning, or creativity, here (for it to be a full time interest, I mean), and I always come away feeling unsatisfied, angry at myself, and frustrated because it's all I have. I'm hoping another positive interest will surface next.

More in terms of the learning process itself. It keeps my brain active. Sometimes it's good for making predictions and/or understanding why things happen.
Helps with timing and gaining insight. It is useful in determining how everything is connected.
Presently about 25 average but I tend to go in binges.
Occasionally.
The spiritual component of seeing how I'm connected in with our Solar System, as I don't seem to fit anywhere.
Being analytical and precise; constantly learning on a deeper level than previously; and experiencing the universe in terms of numbers, measurements and positions.

1. Is there a goal, something you want to achieve in relation to your special interest/s?

One day I hope to write a book, or a few books or a screenplay.

2. Do you put your special interest/s to practical use?

When I can motivate myself enough to.

3. How long do you spend engaging in your special interest/s on a weekly average?

Oh gosh, every moment when I've got nothing to do, even when I'm doing other stuff it's on my mind.
Ok well I watch a range of movies to get ideas for my stories and characters. I could spend 10 hours a week on that. But then there's the time I spend reading and coming up with ideas for my stories.

4. Does someone benefit from your special interest/s apart from yourself?

Not yet, but they will.

5. What does your special interest enrich in you?

Hope.

6. What need do you think your special interest/s satisfy in you, if any?

Makes me forget about my mundane existence, and when things are bothering me I try to block them out by thinking up stories.

Ok, first, I love this post! And now for the questions!

Photography is my current special interest

1. Is there a goal, something you want to achieve in relation to your special interest/s? I would love to become famous with it, or just open up my own gallery and sell my photography, and have gallery openings, etc...

2. Do you put your special interest/s to practical use? YES! I'm doing photoshoots every week and practicing it all the time.

3. How long do you spend engaging in your special interest/s on a weekly average? I don't count...I just do it all the time! I always have my camera with me.

4. Does someone benefit from your special interest/s apart from yourself? Sure. I try to do photoshoots for my friends, and make them look good, and give them the pictures, and I love it! It gives them an instant image boost!

5. What does your special interest enrich in you? My creativity and my love for the environment around me

6. What need do you think your special interest/s satisfy in you, if any? Hmm....well, I guess I do it because I love it. I find something beautiful in all things around me, and I want everyone to see that, and maybe feel the same way I do about things....and I just love to do it. LOL

1. Is there a goal, something you want to achieve in relation to your special interest/s?
No. I mean, with my special interest with neuropsych disorders, I want to get my Ph.D and be a professor someday, but that isn't my most intense special interest. With my handful of really intense special interests, there isn't any goal.

2. Do you put your special interest/s to practical use?
Only my special interest with neuropsych disorders, as that is going to be my future job someday.

3. How long do you spend engaging in your special interest/s on a weekly average?
Well, it depends on how much free time I have. If I'm not currently in school, I will spend pretty much all day engaging in my more intense special interests. This is accomplished mostly by going on the Internet and rambling to my Internet friends about my special interests. Also, my most-recent special interest is the YouTube series "Is it a Good Idea to Microwave This?", and I spend many hours each day on YouTube watching episodes of the show over and over again. When I'm not actually engaging in the special interests or rambling to others about them, I'm always thinking about them and laughing/talking to myself about them.

4. Does someone benefit from your special interest/s apart from yourself?
No, unless you count others learning about my special interests from my ramblings a "benefit."

5. What does your special interest enrich in you?
Other than showing off my incredible memory, I really don't think they do much else.

6. What need do you think your special interest/s satisfy in you, if any?
First and foremost, they give me joy. Whenever I'm upset or going through a bad time, I know that I will be happy if I indulge in my special interests. A lot of the time, they are all that get me through the day... Also, they give me a nice feeling of predictability. Most of my special interests are movies or TV shows, and I like knowing how the show/movie will be the same every time I watch it. It never changes, and I can control it.
-OddDuckNash99-

Please be patient with me. This thread is confusing me. What would be the difference in AS special interests, and NT giftedness? I have observed that people who have an innate ability for something, also have a huge drive to develop that ability, and usually have little interest in trying to develop something they have no ability for. I suppose you could call my desire to understand how it feels to live in other people's heads, a special interest. It is certainly a driving force in my life, though I don't know if it would qualify as an obsession. I am just trying to understand.

I think, not sure, according to this thread and the symptoms listed by the professionals, that an Aspie will accumulate knowledge for the sake of accumulating knowledge, without any goal or practical use to it. And they will do it at the expense of hanging with people (which also has no goal or practical use, but is more acceptable in society, LOL)

[quote

Learning and understanding about this interest for almost 42 years
I would like to one day study at university. when i began this special interest, there was no special department; it was part of 20th century history.
Reading books, going online. this interest is always in my thoughts.
My kids have had assignments in this interest as it is now part of high school curriculum, and I can help them with their ideas.

Empathy and humanity
The understanding what it is to be fully human, and the consequences of inhumanity.

Thank you for explaining. That's interesting. I love the description above your avatar. That would be a good description of me many days.

Thanks, Sue. I was hoping you'd answer these questions because I was interested in your own experience. I so wish you could come here

willmark, that comment above my avatar was actually coined by Merle, a member and moderator here, and it fits me so well that I just had to adopt it. Merle also made me the avatar, which is the story of my life - constantly being fired for being blind to the fragile nonverbal balance in society.

I can usually read body language pretty well, but I waste a lot of time because of misreading people's intended meanings.

I'll answer for my previous special interest. It's a pervasive one that will come around again soon, I think.

1. Is there a goal, something you want to achieve in relation to your special interest/s?

Yes. I want to change the way the world of thinks about knitting patterns.

2. Do you put your special interest/s to practical use?

Not that much, though I have helped one person solve a problem with some of the tools in their current form. That person was my wife, and I suspect that she was indulging me.

3. How long do you spend engaging in your special interest/s on a weekly average?

Often it's all of the cracks of my day. I don't know what that adds up to.

4. Does someone benefit from your special interest/s apart from yourself?

I hope that people see the value in what I'm trying to do, though I suspect that either no one does, or no one cares enough to help me out with it.

5. What does your special interest enrich in you?

A sense that I can change the world.

6. What need do you think your special interest/s satisfy in you, if any?

A need to help people overcome problems they currently have a very hard time adapting to.