What makes interests "special" to you?

[JuniperBug]

Special interests are...well, interesting to me. What qualifies an interest as special? Have you ever felt like your interests weren't strong enough to "count" or that you weren't knowledgable enough about them? How have yours changed throughout your life?

For me, I definitely have things I prefer to talk about (eg. Animals (esp parrots), human sexuality, the sims, some psychology) and I do occasionally tune out when talking about pretty much anything else and like to try to work the conversation back to my interests... Especially if I enjoy talking with that person.

But, I don't feel like I'm much more knowledgable on these topics than most people. I sort of feel like I'm just clueless about everything else and generally not very knowledgable. It would be nice so have a heap of knowledge to make up for my lack thereof in most situations.

How much of a special interest is able knowledge and how much is about passion?


I also feel like my interests are very broad and not very deep. It's frustrating to have this diagnosis and feel like I'm not reaping what I see as one of the biggest benefits.

I'm sure many others have struggled with not feeling adequate in daily life but this is a way I sort of feel inadequate as a person with AS. I wonder if anyone here has ever felt the same.

Thanks so much for reading.

 

[Ylva]

I don't see anything "special" about most of my interests. It took me a while to realize that my recently revived interest in X-men probably counts, since it's hardly all-consuming but just interesting and I think about it a lot.

Maybe the thing with special interests is just hyperbole. I don't forget to eat, I just don't want to. I'll read about my interests (or "interesting things" as it's also called) when it suits me. Passion is not a bad goal. Some even say it's a function of asexuality, although I've never heard it from a professional psychologist.

 

[King_Oni]

I never considered my interests "special" but I sometimes wonder how some people can say they have an interest in something if they're not religiously into it. Still, I don't actively put them down for it, since I guess to each their own in how they experience these things, but I guess it does make me wonder where one draws the line of something being an interest at all.

From the hobbies I have, I tend to take them all serious enough to spend easily 1 to 2 hours on any of them, every day. Even if it's just browsing forums and reading and learning more about them. And it goes up from there. And hobbies aren't neccesarily the same as interests, but that really depends on the hobby IMO.

My tabletop wargaming hobby is a hobby that goes far enough that I'll actively read about tournaments, reports and debate why using model X in a game might be a better choice. I don't just do it, because I like fun looking figures and I like to roll dice.

Looking at another interest of mine, music, and music production, granted, it has been sidelined a bit more now, but I've had my days where I'd spend 20+ hours on it, and that's when I start talking about "I have a slight interest in music production". Of course I've taken it further and went 2 days non-stop, reading, experimenting and learning... that's just how I experience my interests and get most bang for my buck so to speak. For some, that might sound like an obsession rather than "a slight interest".

What I've always found funny with more creative activities that can also be considered interests is that doing it for a bit and not bordering on full blown obsession just never cuts it. I can't think of any people from my past in the music scene that just did it for a bit; all of them who actually wanted to go somewhere, or got somewhere spend time on it religiously including cutting hours of sleep, just to be better and fuel their interest... (and that didn't even have anything to do with any being on the spectrum; in short, that's already NT level obsession)

But I'm drifting from the topic about defining "interest". I guess interest in itself is when you have a certain passion, a certain zeal to pursue these things.

I think from all the things I enjoy, I rarely go things out of the way. I have an interest in comics, and I don't really feel I should skip up on an opportunity to read some (provided I might enjoy them).

For me the bigger problem is exhaustion, 24 hours in a day and too many things that want attention... because, like I said, I just can't do things in small amounts for me to consider them interests I need to and want to be hooked on.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

For me my "special" interests are simply things I can spend endless hours, days, weeks devoting all my time to without losing any enthusiasm for it. They also tend to be very narrow for me. For example I have spent the last month re-reading The Hobbit, I am currently reading it for the 76th time and am still enjoying it just as much as the first time. However, aside from knowing the book pretty much by heart, I can't claim to know a great deal about the characters or world they're set in, as I don't do extra research on the subject. If it was a non-special interest I might actually know more as I would probably have moved on to reading the Silmarillion and other Tolkien works, and possibly ended up researching characters and events to pass the time

 

[Tom]

I think it has more to do with the 'passion' part then accrued knowledge. The knowledge part comes as a result of one sustaining a passion for an extended period.

My guess is that it is related to the heightened focus autistics often have and also perhaps that dealing with things in narrow scope is easier (less chaotic/stressful). There is a comfort level in staying in a certain area. Where the enthusiasim part comes from.. well I don't know.

But I think it comes in different forms. The person who really specializes in one subject is one extreme. The person who has a larger 'herd' of interests and occasional new ones is closer to the other pole. Some have none at all.

I tend towards the middle example. I like certain subjects (or activities) and get comfort out of them, but will grow bored with them after a time and need to rotate to another established one or find a new one. I like new ones once in a while to stretch my brain in a different direction.

 

[NateSean]

I also feel like my interests are very broad and not very deep.

Being a jack of all trades and a master of none does have it's advantages. Maybe you have a good chance of building a wider social circle by pursuing the interests and simply knowing the buzzwords that make others happy.

To answer your question, what makes an interest "special" to me is the fact that it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Writing a funny and entertaining story that I intend to perform for an audience at an open mic, gives me a project to focus on and in doing so it motivates me to manage my time and narrow my focus on preparing for that ten minutes of stage time.

 

[Lealea]

For me my interests give me a reason to escape the chaos of life. My main one is playing video games and for me I feel I can escape into a different world and be someone else, someone better. It's nice to escape reality for a while

 

[Slothra]

I would generally consider an unusual enthusiasm as the biggest prerequisite, not necessarily knowledge.

I haven't really found myself to have one, though - I tend to enjoy everything. Not as a broad, shallow pool of interests, more like moving through all of them, lined up. I pick one up, I look at it for a while. If I like it, I'll keep it, if I don't, I discard it, and I move on down the line, observing one at a time. I add to the line as I learn of different options.

 

[JuniperBug]

I would generally consider an unusual enthusiasm as the biggest prerequisite, not necessarily knowledge.

I haven't really found myself to have one, though - I tend to enjoy everything. Not as a broad, shallow pool of interests, more like moving through all of them, lined up. I pick one up, I look at it for a while. If I like it, I'll keep it, if I don't, I discard it, and I move on down the line, observing one at a time. I add to the line as I learn of different options.

Yes! I definitely get that. I get pretty intense interests and then they get dropped out of no where. I remember building a website about hamsters as a child, then setting up a "nail salon" in my back yard for months. Then It was Pokemon cards. It's more like a roller coaster of interests than a shallow pool.

 

[Judge]

Those interests which seem to permeate my life. The ones that never really go away over a lifetime. The ones that I never stop thinking about.

 

[Slothra]

Yes! I definitely get that. I get pretty intense interests and then they get dropped out of no where. I remember building a website about hamsters as a child, then setting up a "nail salon" in my back yard for months. Then It was Pokemon cards. It's more like a roller coaster of interests than a shallow pool.

I kinda wish I had a special interest, I feel like settling into something would be nice, but nooooo...

You can never get off the ride ;(

 

[plaidInBlue]

If I am curious about something, and I can feel involved, then I consider that one of my interests. My new interest is about fanzines. I've just made one fanzine todate. I have a lot of ideas for more, but I can't decide what subject to use for the next one. I used to be obsessed with computer programming, but not anymore.

 

[watersprite]

It's a part of what my brain does naturally, it satisfies a pathway of thinking that I want to explore and get a lot of enjoyment from. The fact that it un-hooks anxiety and allows me to be peaceful is an excellent motivation too. I've been drawing and painting my while life. I have not studied art history in depth though, because then that would be my special interest, and I want to do, not memorize what has been done. So, I guess an added descriptive term for me is that my interest is narrowly defined.

There are other subjects I like talking (actually writing) about and pondering yet am not well read about by any means. I just like them a lot. In my opinion this is okay as long as I am searching out the truth of a thing. I love reading about them whether in books or online. Not enough time to pursue all of them.

Side note: talking about my interests does not happen easily for me, and when I have (rarely) tried to be in a conversational group, or even with my kids, etc., I've been told my voice sounds unpleasant. When I was diagnosed the neuropsych offered therapy for this but I chose not to do so at this time.

 

[Datura]

Normal interest: Anime
Special interest: Anime as it pertains to Imperial Era nationalism and the Second World War

Normal interest: Marine Biology
Special interest: the evolution of cephalopod neurology

Normal interest: Gaming
Special interest: Euro games, American board games, and how they demonstrate opposing cultural notions of "fairness"