Do you lose your special interests when things get too hard?

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Do you lose interest when things become hard?
I always do 25%  25%  [ 13 ]
Sometimes 51%  51%  [ 27 ]
I'm not a quitter 25%  25%  [ 13 ]
Total votes : 53

DevilKisses
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02 Nov 2014, 6:27 pm

An example is playing guitar. At first it's pretty fun and easy. You progress quickly, you can easily play chords to songs you love and it's very easy to find teachers and material. As you progress it starts to become difficult and you may plateau. It also gets harder to find teachers or material. Would you lose interest when it starts to get harder? I always seem to and it's extremely frustrating.

This happened to me with Icelandic. Since it's an obscure language I had to teach myself. It was also extremely hard to find material that was my level and interesting enough. Eventually I lost interest because of lack of material and other interests distracted me. The same thing happened to me with accordion. At first it was a special interest, but when I actually started playing it just became an interest.


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Last edited by DevilKisses on 02 Nov 2014, 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

franknfurter
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02 Nov 2014, 6:55 pm

yeah when its an interest in things that you learn I often lose interest, very frustrating, I did that with piano, violin and magic.

I have about a month of really good concentration and interest and then suddenly I have no interest at all, does not always coincide with it becoming too difficult, but I think it makes a difference in how quick I lose interest



justkillingtime
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02 Nov 2014, 6:58 pm

I remain interested in psychology/behavior and TV (I think my interest in TV is a subset of my interesting in psychology and behavior). I stay at a level I can comprehend and remember. When I get lost because the psychology is too complex for me, I go back to the level I understand. I can't and don't want to stop trying to understand as much as I am able.


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MatchingBlues
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02 Nov 2014, 7:00 pm

Sometimes. I have a functional knowledge of advanced level statistics. Can't afford to go back to school so I bought several old college textbooks and taught myself what was needed in my situation. It did and does get challenging. I take a break for maybe two or three weeks. Usually something like a good day will motivate me to try again. I can't see myself just wandering away from something I really like. Same goes for Mandarin Chinese.

So when things do get too hard, I step away so I don't become too distressed and come back when I am ready.



nick007
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02 Nov 2014, 8:58 pm

My interests have never been anything that require skill or talent & aren't things that can be hard or easy; just things I do like watch TV, listen to music & post on forums. But based on my personality with other things I think I would lose interest or at least need to take an extended break.


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DevilKisses
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02 Nov 2014, 10:35 pm

nick007 wrote:
My interests have never been anything that require skill or talent & aren't things that can be hard or easy; just things I do like watch TV, listen to music & post on forums. But based on my personality with other things I think I would lose interest or at least need to take an extended break.

My special interests often don't require skill at first, but they usually eventually do. An example would be listening to accordion players. That doesn't require any skill, but playing accordion does.


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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 82 of 200
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You are very likely neurotypical


Andrejake
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03 Nov 2014, 5:13 am

Sometimes they stress me too much, so i stop. The problem is that, when i quit because it's too hard, my mind can't stop thinking of how to overcome what i stopped even if i try to do something else.
For example if i'm playing a game and have spent hours on a hard part that i can't pass and stop playing, i know that my mind won't stop thinking of how i should play to pass don't matter how hard i try to distract myself.
The same thing happen when i'm trying to learn a new song on my keyboard. If there is a part that is too difficult sometimes i "rage quit" but discover a few minutes later that i can't even think of anything else to do.



FedUpAsp
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03 Nov 2014, 5:35 am

No. I just get incredibly frustrated.



bungleton
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03 Nov 2014, 6:50 am

I started trying to learn this 13 years ago:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqrKnjo1SSs[/youtube]

SO CLOSE yet SO FAR

I bailed out on the gym and going to a barbecue tonight so I figured I should do something productive. Getting there but oh god, I'm so close to giving up on this one but I have to keep going... At some point I'll be able to sing and play it.

I don't tend to give up on things completely, but I do phase in and out with my projects over the space of about 6 months :)


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FautheralLoather
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03 Nov 2014, 7:16 am

Yes I think this was a problem with my most of my life, and I get threatend if breaking out of it otherwise.

I tried my best to get out of it but all they to is threaten me in very drastic measures.



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03 Nov 2014, 10:19 pm

I use them like a crutch when I get really down.


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nuttyengineer
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03 Nov 2014, 11:17 pm

Nope. If anything, the challenge makes them that much more appealing to me.


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Jacoby
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04 Nov 2014, 4:58 am

If whatever it is I am interested in starts causing me considerable stress then yea I probably would withdraw from it for it a bit. I'm a sports fan and its definitely a lot harder to stay interested if your team sucks.



SickPuppy
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04 Nov 2014, 5:33 am

I find it difficult to even start doing things that interest me :(



elfaoife
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04 Nov 2014, 5:36 am

I have many interests, when one thing becomes difficult and frustrating I switch to another interest for a while then return to the interest at a later stage. I always return though, so it's not giving up.



rapidroy
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05 Nov 2014, 12:37 am

I like a challenge, actually I get board if I don't have one. I have given up on learning some songs because they are too simple. I need to see evidence that what I am not wasting my time.