Special Interests and Obsessions

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Hey!
This is going to be my last topic before I leave this site for good. I think I've come to know enough about ASD to help relate better to the aspies in my life. Anyways, when you guys are unable to indulge in your special interests/obsessions when you want...is it something that produces a lot of anxiety for you? NT's have special interests and passions, and spend a lot of time on them. However, we don't get anxious about not doing them. Also, is special interest something that is literally to the exclusion of other things? Like you don't stop for anything...even to go to bathroom?

Thanks!

Yes to all of the above. My special interests are obsessive. If I can't partake in them I start feeling like I'm going nuts. My special interests are all consuming occasionally to the point of exclusion of job and family. If I'm really into something I'll hold off on the bathroom as long as possible but you eventually have to go.

When I was younger the social difficulties of AS were the biggest challenges for me. Now that I'm older and care less about the social difficulties, it's the obsessive special interests that are my biggest challenges. My obsessive special interests make it very difficult for me to hold down a job.

I've been known to spend more than half a day alphabetising my CD collection.
I have managed to resist the urge to eat, rest, and go to the toilet, and have ended up feeling very cramped and sore from being in a crouched position tor too long.
Similarly, if I am on a writing spree, I may sit in front of the laptop for hours, and similarly cramp up, and end up with a sore neck.
Yesterday I had an irresistible urge to spend most of my day in the garden, after I failed to locate my bushcare group.
I went to a local hardware store, spent over $130 on plants, soil conditioner, mulch, and fertilizer, and ended up spending about 5 hours pruning, planting, mulching and fertilizing the garden.
If I hadn't done this, I would have felt so anxious and uptight I would not have been able to sleep.
I found I resisted the urge to go to the toilet, I scarcely ate until I had finished, and I had to push myself to stop.

As I am also a keen home brewer, I find that as my supply of empty bottles accumulates, I get to a point of no return, where I must buy another can of concentrate and other ingredients, and usually once I have the ingredients, I must brew a batch of beer within about 2 weeks.
Usually the shelf life is for months or more, but once it is in the house I am compelled to brew my beer.
If I don't I get anxious, have difficulty sleeping, and feel agitated.
Once I start my brewing, I obsess about temperature, fermentation, colour, texture, taste, aroma, and get paranoid my brew may become infected. I also obsess about when to bottle my beer.
When I bottle my beer, I obsess about ensuring my gear is all ready (even a few days prior to bottling) and obsessively clean and sterilize my bottles and gear.
I then obsess for the first two weeks after bottling - when carbonation begins - about the bottles being in the right conditions.
I then obsess about allowing them to age before trying them - typically it's best to let them sit for at least 4 weeks prior to consumption, and longer tends to improve the quality of the beer.

I tend to mostly carry out my special interests when I am alone at home, so as not to frustrate my wife, or have her get in my way.
It works out well that way, as she doesn't need to see me in my obsessive mode, and I can get my things done without interference.

If I am in a situation where I can research my special interest, I will likely talk about it as loud and for as long as anybody will let me. My special interests make me feel good, both speaking and leaning about them. So, NT , If you ever come across a person who won't stop going on and on about conjoined twins or genetic dominance and recessivity, let them have a few minutes of your time! It is for their sanity! haha. Thanks for coming to learn about this funny group of people. Good luck, and, as we say in my home town, best wishes!

Thanks for sharing, guys!

AAAAA!! ! I meant CAN'T research, not CAN! !! !! !

I am very single-minded and relentless so I get very upset when I am disrupted during my engaging intractions of a special interest like sketching or reading. Not really just anything though it has to be material I am drawing or reading that pertains to my special interests which include indo-european mythology certain periods of history and bugs/plants. But the bugs and the plants are almost a side effect of my core obsession which is indo-european mythology, mostly celtic mythology which includes irish/scots and welsh.