• Replies 12 replies
  • Subscribers 32 subscribers
  • Views 1499 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Special Interest, Too Many I Could Scream - Anyone else?

Rainbow Pixie

Since my autistic diagnosis, the one thing I get confused about is the topic of special interests. When I've read on various platforms that they can be very specific and narrow. But for me I have lots of interests and I get stressed when I can't do them all due to time etc. I have a dolls house which is a project for me as I'm obsessed with tiny things. I love tarot, I love crystals from a geological point of view. I love reading specific genre books (Skulduggery Pleasant books). And I have a passion for rock/metal music and playing my bass guitar. I love simulation video games and board games.

Now this is why I could scream, I will obsess over one thing for weeks, then suddenly I go to my other interest for weeks, then another etc. It's prompted people to say I have "fads" and that bothers me because actually I never stop liking an interest, I just come back to it at a later stage, sometimes months later. But with every interest I have I become fixated on everything about it. My bass guitar alongside my rock/metal music has been the only exception where I live and breathe that every single day. 

But then there's that occasion where I want to do all my interests all at once and because I can't I just get upset and do mine of them out of sheer frustration that I argue with myself over which one to do.

Does anybody else experience this? I do genuinely struggle with this to the point I've almost wished that I could like only one thing.

  • There was an autistic youtuber I watched one time who said that they dont have a single special interest, but they have a few at different intensities.
    Like for me, Frozen is my primary special interest then my secondary would be autism/psychology, then Ive got a few more tertiary ones. I consider them all special interests because I can get very absorbed in them and they make me very happy but I can also get upset if I cant engage in them. Sometimes my autism/psychology special interest is higher than my Frozen one, but only for however long im focused on it at that time.
    This doesnt make too much sense, sorry.
    But maybe its kind of like that with you, where your special interests arent stopping when you move on to a new one, but rather the one you are focusing on for that week has moved up (like if you got a new video game that might become your primary special interest until later you find a new article on crystals then that may be your primary focus). You do seem to have quite a few special interests though so I think the suggestion of ADHD is valid. 

    Also I call some of my intense interests special interests or hyper fixations depending on how long ive had that interest. Like a new tv series that I start researching all about and talking and watching it a bunch, I would call a hyperfixation. But then like my interest in Frozen has lasted years. I think im the only one ive heard to do that with having some things be hyper fixations and other special interests. 

  • in reply to Rainbow Pixie

    You are so welcome! We are here for you if you want anymore insight into your neurodivergent identity or just to chat about anything including your interests.

  • in reply to MrSolo

    I'm glad it's not just me. And that thought has crossed my mind too, if I kept sticking to that one thing I'd be great at it. 

  • in reply to Rainbow Pixie

    Thanks for clarifying. 

    Rainbow Pixie said:
    I meant jumping around with interests and having lots of them I didn't think was an autistic trait, more ADHD because I also research ADHD to better help my husband too.

    This can be part of autistic experience, but namely AUDHD experiences.

    Good luck on your AUDHD discovery journey!

  • in reply to Uhane

    Yep, it drives me crazy sometimes. Especially when I jump around on my interests and sometimes feel like I have to go to square one with them.

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    Sorry made sense in my head when I typed, read it back and even confused me. I meant jumping around with interests and having lots of them I didn't think was an autistic trait, more ADHD because I also research ADHD to better help my husband too. But I wanted to see others thoughts on here because I might have just been misinformed.

  • It is a continual source of frustration to me that there is not enough time in a week to engage fully with all my special interests. The way it ends up working out for me is that I am usually only obsessed with one or two of them at a time, but still engaging with the others. They cycle in and out over the course of a few years.

    For example, I used to be obsessed with running, entering races, following training schedules, etc. Currently that's a "background interest" - I'm still going for a jog around the park every morning, but I'm not obsessed with it. Whereas mathematics, which I studied when I was younger but went dormant as an interest for years, is back in full force and I'm spending a couple of hours every day on it (when freelance work doesn't force me to drop everything and do nothing but that for a day or two). I'm also getting back into dancing which I used to do every night of the week until I got sick of it around 2019. But writing fiction, which I was obsessed with 3-4 years ago, has become something I think about now and then but rarely get around to actually doing.

    If I could stick to one interest my whole life, think how good I'd be at it by now! But it doesn't work like that for me.

  • I do this too. oracles and symbols, astrology, celestial mechanics, meteorology, all the arts; painting especially, reading, gymnasium, beach combing., psychology..I just have to tell myself I will need a few more lifetimes to fit them all in... sometimes they can dovetail.

  • in reply to Rainbow Pixie

    Hi!

    You are welcome! I hope the resources are informative and relatable.

    It’s great that you can discuss the possibility of ADHD with your husband as he is an ADHDer!

    Rainbow Pixie said:
    But it just didn't seem to fit to me with the autism trait

    What do you mean?

     I have not read Skulduggery for years so I can’t remember the characters but there is quite a few books in the series as you are obviously aware. It’s great that you love the characters.

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    Hi there, that really helps actually. My husband has ADHD and felt before my diagnosis that I might be AuDHD. I mentioned this during my diagnosis but other than a question about focus for me it got dismissed. So I do still wonder whether I do potentially have AuDHD and not just autism. I think like you said there's a lot of overlap. But it just didn't seem to fit to me with the autism trait which is why I thought I'd ask in case I just didn't fully understand. I will check out those links and I really appreciate you posting them.

    In terms of Skulduggery Pleasant. I'm up to the 7th book so far and I can't pin point a favourite (the latest one I read seems better than the last haha), but I absolutely love the Billy-Ray character as he makes me have a wry smile. But loving the Lord Vile and Darquesse moments at the moment. 

  • Rainbow Pixie said:
    But for me I have lots of interests and I get stressed when I can't do them all due to time etc. I have a dolls house which is a project for me as I'm obsessed with tiny things. I love tarot, I love crystals from a geological point of view. I love reading specific genre books (Skulduggery Pleasant books). And I have a passion for rock/metal music and playing my bass guitar. I love simulation video games and board games.

    Hi! You obviously have lots of really cool interests! I enjoyed Skulduggery Pleasant books too, which one is your favourite? Lots of members of our autistic community are actually AuDHDer’s, there’s lots of overlap.

    Having this many different interests is common for us autistics but is also very common for AuDHDer’s (autistic and ADHD) who may cycle between interests to stimulate their need for novelty.

    Have ou considered ADHD before? It’s very natural for ADHDer’s to spend a short amount of time of lots of different interests to increase dopamine production.

    Here is some information about the AUDHD experience:

    https://www.youtube.com/live/V_tF88-YUDk?si=nDcFiweFd4yb6meg

    https://autisticgirlsnetwork.org/audhd/

    I hope this helps!