Why do "special interests" have to vanish?

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Why do "special interests" have to vanish?

It happens Don't beat yourself up about it.


TheSunAlsoRises

I wondered if this was something that others had experienced, as well. I was interested in anything to do with Ancient Egyptians for a number of years; I would watch documentaries in my spare time, I asked my mum to bring me souvenirs from her stay in Egypt, I would got to museums and I would talk incessantly about them. But now, it's as if my mind has erased everything I never knew about it.

I have this experience too. Glad to know others do too.

A lot of my World Land Speed Record history info has disappeared over the last year or so. It's mainly the statistical stuff that's gone.

It's no big deal, really.

I find this endlessly frustrating. I'm so glad there are others out there. Its not like its all totally gone but its not the same. I wonder if its because the older we get the more special interest info we have amassed. Maybe there's is a limit to what we can hang onto? I was told once that a person can only remember 7 things at a time and when you add an 8th thing one of the others things gets forgotten. Maybe its like that. Or perhaps like an unused skill. Whatever it is...I'm not a fan and it also makes me feel stupid.

Wow I'm not alone!
I used to have an obsession for Japan, knew enough Japanese to get me by in an introduction chat, knew all the hiragana, katana and about 70 kanji, could write them all off the top of my head, and I've forgotten it all. I lost complete interest and I don't remember any of it.

It's a shame, special interests do vanish.

What can you do but start reading a few books in hopes of finding another or gravitate to something else naturally...

Losing special interests would make employment difficult, i suspect.

TheSunAlsoRises

I really do not think 'losing special interest' is the correct term for it.

It's more than just 'losing interest, too'. It's as IF the knowledge one has gained or has accumulated dissipates.......

But, again, this depends on how Autism effects the individual...

TheSunAlsoRises

Well, I at least - no idea how it is with the others - still keep all my past interests in one mental store, in which they are kept throughout years, and from which they get pulled out by me again, after some time. Even if I have forgotten much ever since, it's much easier to start acquiring knowledge on it again than starting from zero to get knowledge on it, it's like coming back to an old friend whom we left for some time, again. Recently I was into Barbie dolls, later I was into getting freebies, now I'm into the Jerusalem Kingdom and it's history.

I know that feel.

There was a time when I was amazing at Tetris. It was my thing. quickly graduated from regular Tetris to the Grandmaster series, and it was basically all I did for some time. I got really good at it.

Wasn't able to play for a while, then when I finally came back to it I just couldn't do it like I used to. My brain had moved on to other things.

I also mourn for losing knowledge from past interests. I remember memorizing scripts of particular tv shows, comedy skits and movies, word for word, and repeating them all the time...people thought this was an interesting talent. Sadly, this has been lost, along with many other memory-related talents.

'Use it or lose it', I think that's what's at the core of this phenomenon. I used to be quite knowledgeable on dinosaurs, or actually, prehistoric wildlife in general + the geological timescale with all its eras and periods... and beside that, I also knew a thing or two about current wildlife, flags of sovereign states and the solar system. This was when I was 9 or 10 years old.
My interest in these subjects began to wane slowly but surely when I started attending secondary school. I didn't read as much about those favourite subjects of mine anymore, and the knowledge that I had fell deeper and deeper into the recesses of my mind, and got outdated.

Rather the same here. I stopped reading up on Tolkien and Ancient Eqyptian gods when I was in secondary school and now I still dimly remember some things, but not as much as I used to. Fortunately, secondary school biology helped me retain my interest in visual perception, and the class I'm taking in university on perception now is kindling the interest more. I do notice, though, that even if I don't consciously remember some things, they'll just resurface during conversations. For example, in my philosophy of ethics class now, I can suddenly remember things I read on farming and studies done on animals from as long as eight to nine years ago. It's great for me now because I don't have to study as much as everyone else.

You probably just need something present to refresh your memory occasionally and if there isn't something, it just goes.

Some of my special interests did not disappear rather, I lost interest with them if this makes sense? Still, others have become more apparent and I put more time and energy into them. Personally, I don't think anyone should give up their special interests unless it somehow causes conflict which is not possible to resolve or something along those line. I'll admit I wished I have not thrown away my transformers,g.i. joes, masters of the universe action figures as a whole away yet, i have found some solace knowing that such are more valuable now and I hope to regain such at a later time..

I'm really glad for this thread. I've always hated myself for my "vanishing" obsessions, thinking myself a lesser person because of it. Because I can be so interested and knowledgeable about a subject today, but maybe next year, I can't have a decent conversation about it.

People at the table might be talking about Greek mythology, which I was once very knowledgeable about, and I have an impulse to jump in and share all my knowledge of it, but then I suddenly realise that I've forgotten half of what I'd learnt and so I have to keep quiet and it just kills me!

It's like, I am still interested in it, but more interests keep coming up and haven't got time to maintain past interests, so they all get forgotton.

I'm glad to know so many of you are like that too.

It happens to me too.

I didn't really collect facts when I was a kid (like I do now). I prefered images. I collected stickers and images of certain things, but can't now remember what they all were except for 2. When I was 10 I was obsessed with the Jolly Green Giant (& the little Sprout) and Bird's Eye brand images for a while. I made my mom buy only those brands of frozen food and cut out and kept the logos. I probably had hundereds of cut outs pasted onto a big refridgerator size cardboard box.

The memory of the image obsessions are stronger than the memory of the fact collections. Just a couple years ago I collected images of (and constantly drew out) biochemistry macromolecules and cellular metabolism pathways. Now? I can only remember a few vague things about them.

It bugs me that I spent so much time and effort on those things and now the interest (and the knowledge) are gone.