Are my obsessions' timescales normal?

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I only have very short lived obsessions, some last a year, some a lot less. But definitely not lifelong obsessions, unlike people with autism are 'supposed' to have. I seem to know a lot of autistic people online now, and most of them are obsessed with certain things/ people/ shows/ characters/ whatever. And they stick with them. Constantly talking, researching, writing about them etc.

Whereas I get impatient. Move on! I want to say. Haven't you obsessed over 'that' enough? What's your next obsession? How do you not get bored with one thing?

The list of my obsessions is sooooo long, going back over my life. And once I've lost interest in something, that's it. I never go back, or very rarely.

Is this normal autistic behaviour or is it something else? It is a major reason I suspect I'm not actually autistic.

I've heard of other autistic people with this experience, and it matches my own.

What I find interesting though is that probably 4/5 of my "phases" as I had called them pre-diagnosis all seemed to fit under the larger umbrella of music or technology. These hyperfixations would often be radically different from each other, but lie under those larger categories.

Have you experienced this too? A "macro" special interest?

Of course, I've had many fixations that did not fit cleanly into those categories, but as I've heard it said, "Nature rarely draws a line without smudging it."

EDIT: Do you identify with having ADHD as well? I often wonder if these paradoxically restricted-yet-diverse interests come from seeking stimulation (ADHD) whilst simultaneously seeking routine (ASD).

You don't have to have special interests to be an autistic person.

Under the DSM IV, Asperger's Syndrome was the condition that had 'special interest' associated with it, but other forms of autism that now come under the umbrella term of 'autistic spectrum disorder' don't necessarily have special interests as a feature.

I don't have typical autistic like special interests either. Mine are similar to yours where I might really get obsessed with something for a year max, but normally it isn't such a long time, usually only a few weeks or maybe months. I don't feel like my obsessions are as intense as others seem to experience, and I don't even know if these things count as special interests either or just something I get into for a bit. Most of the things I get obsessed with, I don't get into again later either. Some things cycle back or stay in the same kind of 'theme', but usually it's like I burn myself out on it and then move on, completely abandoning whatever it was I was into.

I wouldn't call mine obsessions so much as individual time with hyperfocus. I spent more time than a NT person might with puzzles and collections. Mazes, jigsaw puzzles, logic puzzles, now genealogy. Model horses, stickers, coins, stamps, now experiences. I consider dance a special interest although I don't pursue it so much as enjoy it - I did dance class as a kid, dance whenever I can socially, met my spouse dancing, my BFF shares that passion, I catch the occasional theatre production (like Stomp). Perhaps an NT would have a well-paced hobby that they share? Mine go in intense spurts and are not as easily shared (unless with like-minded or open-minded folks).

I wouldn't know, I'm afraid. Whenever I go to the doctor they usually ignore my problems. I was amazed to even get an autism diagnosis and be taken seriously for once in my life.

Mine are often intense and short-lived. But recurring. For example I've been interested in the Titanic since the wreck was discovered when I was 6. It's been a lifelong interest but it periodically becomes an obsession and it's all I can think about for a while. Then it wanes but it's always there in the background. Same with a guy called Whittaker Wright who was a big deal in the Victorian era. I'm currently deep in to a dismantled railway line that runs near me - I'm trying to find out if a tunnel that once existed is still there in some form. Finding bits of history that left markers in the landscape is another on and off obsession. But yes, intense and short-lived. That's my obsessions.

There have been times in my life when I have had obsessive special interests that lasted for a few years, and other long periods when I have not had any. The special interests I have had have been the sort of thing a young girl might become obsessed with, like a band, not intellectual interests where one becomes obsessed with knowledge about a specific subject, like, I don't know, mushrooms or airplanes.

But I am only on the edge of being autistic. I have been assessed twice and both times it came back inconclusive (not a definite yes and not a definite no). I think I have clear autistic traits, but not a sufficient combination of traits for it to be considered clinically definitive.