How to have 'hobbies'?

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I've spent the last month in a total horror story and have felt really bad today- I actually felt very sick due to anxiety because I've had three week-long interests. What has basically happened is I've came across a special interest and I've loved it, really loved it and then it fades back to almost nothing. Three times this week I've felt horrible, I am scared of losing an interest I know there is not much I can do about it but I get so upset and then find I have no way to distract myself when it's faded. I spent a whole hour just siting watching a film I don't really like. I feel so devastated and mean and fed up to leave this interest that I've had for eight days. I desperatly want it to stay but I know I can't make it stay even though I really want it to. I always feel really guilty when I leave an interest it feels so wrong as if it is a person. The thing is I always love the characters not the overall thing so I think I am leaving a person behind really.
That is part of my problem, how bad I feel but the other part is that I have no ways of takin away that feeling, when I am 'just me' there is nothing, I have nothing. My hobbies are generally all linked to my interests. I love to draw and write but if its not interest related it is very hard for me to get into and stay with. I also think I might be 'burning out' my interest. Because I have nothing left to investigate it has disappeared. I've gone down all the avenues I think I can in eight days. I'd even started planing a Halloween costume for a party I'm going to and I don't have that want to do it anymore. How can I gain hobbies or whatever that are totally unrelated to my interests. I need something strong that I can fall back on, when I was little I had absolutely no problem so what is the problem now? Why can't I just be like so many people and just cope with my interests. I even wrote a long letter to my mum today trying to explain but I don't think she got what I was trying to say- the letter is also on this forum. I do love animals and history, I've tried to involve them in writing my own stories but I don't seem to be able to find any comfort in this stuff at the end of a special interest? What can I do?

I completely understand how you feel, because I've been going through pretty much the same thing as you have. I also get obsessed with characters, and I feel really badly whenever my interests fade because it feels like I'm abandoning friends. Also like you, this wasn't a problem when I was younger, but I find that the older I'm getting, the harder it is to transition into new interests. I wish so badly that I could have kept my last interest at least for a few years longer, because losing it was very upsetting to say the least, as I was extremely emotionally attached to the characters from that interest. I understand what it means to feel empty when it's "just you" and to not feel inspired to do artwork or writing like you normally would, because I also enjoy doing those things.

Ever since losing my last interest, I have found that there are things that I enjoy but not enough to call them special interests. I think those are what most people would call "hobbies". The best advice that people have given me, both in real life and on WP, is that you should just enjoy the things that you want to enjoy without worrying about whether or not you're obsessed with it. I would like to add that if you compare special interests and hobbies to relationships, special interests are like romance and hobbies are like friendship. With romance, you can't choose who you fall in love with, and it's always a rollercoaster of intense emotions when you either get one or lose one. But on the other hand, you can choose who your friends are and just because they're not as intense as romance doesn't mean that they are not still fun to be with. Additionally, just like the way that people can still be friends even though they're not in love anymore, I think it's possible to keep a former special interest as a hobby.

(I hope that comparison made some kind of sense.)

I hope that you have found my post to be helpful in some ways. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk about this issue some more. Maybe we should form a support group for people who are struggling with their special interests?