Note: I wrote about this a bit in an old post via some edited-to-add stuff. I doubt anyone has seen it. But just in case someone has and then they read this. I don't want them to mistakingly believe they're having deja vu.
I have decided that not all of my so-called special interests are actually special interests. I came to this realization after developing my first actual post-Australia special interest. .
I have decided that the not-special interests are either
a) Stressful Interests
b) Hobbies
c) Passing interests
Israel is an example of a stressful interest for me. I haven't been obsessively learning about Israel, because it brings me joy and comfort. It's about seeking validation, ammunition for debates, understanding, etc.
Other examples for me: Autism, Neurology/seizures, Narcissism, American elections/politics, Covid, and Ant-racism. (Pretty much most of what I wrote about on this blog after I stopped writing about Australia. I pretty much went from writing about a special interest to writing about stressful interests...kind of sad)
Hobbies are things that I very much enjoy doing, but they're different from special interests, because I don't have an interest in obsessively learning about them.
Currently these for me are: Playing The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Feeding our backyard wildlife, and Taking care of our backyard plants. I'm VERY flora and fauna lately.
Passing Interests are things that I'm interested in temporarily as they're happening in my life. This usually pertains to travel and TV shows. I might be passionate about a show as I'm/we're watching it. But soon after I'm done with the season, the interest fades, and it doesn't come back until I/we watch the next season.
This is the same with Disney World. I am mildly/moderately interested between visits but become much more interested when actually planning the vacation and while we're there.
Often when he are there, I imagine I'm going to keep up the level of passion, and I make plans to continue checking out the line lengths and restaurant availability through out the year. But I soon lose the motivation to do that.
We have a Disney trip coming up in a few months. To be honest, the travel anxiety is overshadowing the passing-interest feelings at this point. But I did have fun making the reservation on the DVC website.
My last passing-interest was probably The Walking Dead, because we finally got around to watching season ten and eleven; then watched three of the spin offs (Daryl Dixon, The Ones Who Live, and Dead City)
So....whether you're autistic or not. If you have special interests/obsessions/passions, does any of this resonate with you? What have been your special interests, hobbies, stressful interests, and passing interests?
