I miss having intense interests

Please know you’re not alone. That’s not to belittle your unique experience, but lots of us share the need to write or discover, our own manuals :-) I’m really glad you’re figuring things out now, really hope you continue to find what you need. Keep going.

Really helpful, great ideas, thank you :-) and good luck with exams!

Yes. I love having intense interests/projects, it's the main way that I get enjoyment out of life. I think that is my natural happy state but I have gone through periods of not being interested in anything at all, e.g when I am slightly depressed and lonely, or extremely stressed. 

When I'm feeling good, I'll have loads of really good ideas all at once and I have a strong urge to pursue these projects but then I'll get sad if I can't pursue it, and then when I do have time, I might not be interested in anything. So I decided to make a spreadsheet and I make an entry for every project idea I have. It helps me concentrate on what I'm meant to be doing, because writing it down means I know the idea is safe for another time. And then if I ever want inspiration then I have a lot of appealing ideas to choose from. At the moment I have about 40 things on there that I'm saving for after exams. The stuff varies from books/films I want to read/watch, programming projects, songs I want to learn etc.

The name of the spreadsheet is The Pensieve in reference to Harry Potter.

"One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure" - Dumbledore.

Thank you, you too.

The hardest part is the patience and remembering that supporting yourself to get back to mental and physical wellness really is helping those interests. Even if it seems to take an age.

There are many, many unexpected benefits to a journey like this - like learning about yourself in invaluable ways you'd never figure out any other way. E.g. I've made a few life decisions that suit me better now. What made me burn out was not knowing how badly my life decisions matched who I was and what my needs were. Glad to be figuring that out now. I'd prefer it if I could have learned it all in a detailed written manual that was present from my birth... but oh well!! :) 

Good luck and hope things improve for you.

Thank you for sharing your experience so openly. What you've been through going sounds so tough, I'm really sorry to hear about it. I hope you continue to recover and find the pathways yneed back into those other worlds you want to explore. Take care.

Yes, definitely. I've experienced this and feel that loss too.

Mine is a slower, longer term experience. I burned out hard about a decade ago, to the point of being housebound, and I'm still gradually nurturing my special interests back even now that I'm mostly back to full health.

I miss the feeling of immersing myself into other worlds, though, and I can't quite pinpoint why that isn't fully back yet. But I'm working with whatever little fragments of interest pop up each day, even if they die out as quickly as they sparked back to life. I know I cannot force the special interests back or force the topics - they must come from within. Going directly back to old interests hasn't worked, either. Focusing on improving mental and physical health has indirectly helped some interests return and colour return to my life. There's a direct correlation. Since it has been years into burnout, then years of recovery, I've had to employ more patience than I've ever had in me to wait for them to return over years... but/and they are. There is no doubt about that.

Yep, makes lots of sense, thank you :)

I definitely have periods where I don't have an obsession, but it always feels like something is missing. Often I just use the time to get on with things I need to do but would be distracted from whilst obsessed, haha. I think I'd be able to ignite an obsession if I purposely started rewatching a favourite TV show or doing an activity related to one of my other special interests.

All very helpful and excellent ideas, thank you :-)

Had long periods of no interests. Lockdown got me going back to older things i hyperfocused on-mixing records,since lockdown slowly built up FX units,drum machines,keyboards,and can focus on it a little(tho still fatigue!). Maybe find an interest u loved as a kid and start it again. I have started and stopped and restarted collecting things.

Cheers

Thanks, that’s really helpful :) Good luck with your assessment. I keep remembering things I didn’t say in mine that were probably super relevant! Hope you get what you need from it :)

Yep!

I'll know I'm better when my hyperfocus has gone back out to play with my passions and I'm boring my family rigid with them again.

It's natural, I think. There's only room in my head at least for one thing at a time and that gets ALL of my intense thought and concentration. At the moment those resources are entirely devoted to getting through my assessment and solving the problem which brought me to this point.

Once my nose in stuck back into a grammar book or I'm spending every spare moment designing or making wierd clothes, I'll know I'm through the worst.

Interests can help mental health, but I certainly need the right level of good mental health to engage.

I have learned to be more resourceful, living on my own. However, I'm pissed off with Lockdown. The fox is now guarding the Henhouse.

Thank you :) Everything crossed for you too, hopefully the world will open up more fully and the days will start gaining more structure and variety.

Fingers and toes crossed for you!

Yeah, the lockdowns made me realise that even though I'm an introvert, I do need some degree of activity and variability to be happy.

Ah, this makes so much sense! I feel really lucky, my obsessions persisted through some of the lockdowns — the things I gravitate towards are usually quite solitary. But the last few months have been bleak. Maybe once I go back to uni in September, things will feel a bit more normal. That's what I'm hoping right now, at least. 

Yep, every lockdown I would just be lost and miserable. Being cooped up all the time saps the joy out of life, lol. As soon as the most recent lockdown lifted and I got released from my cage, my obsessions have restarted, lol. I don't think lockdown has been good for anyone's mental health.