Short lived obsessive special interests??

[Hazel87]

For as long as I can remember, probably as long as I've existed, my special interest has been animals, especially rats. Once I got older, I also became absolutely obsessed with neuropsychology. I'm not very interested in other aspects of psychology, unless pertaining in specific ways to the brain/consciousness. I'm obsessed with neurological conditions, like autism, obviously, esp since I am autistic, but also things like FASD and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Neurodiversity, as well as psychoactive substances (medications, drugs, plants etc) and how their affect the brain. My special interests have left little time/attention for other interests although in adulthood, I have become better at managing my special interests and becoming less narrow. I'm also interested in social justice, sociology, philosophy but these are normal interests and nothing like animals and neuropsychology... and I'm primarily interested in those subjects as they pertain to my special interests, but not exclusively.

ANYWAYS -

I also have occasionally developed, what I would describe as short lived obsessive interests. I don't know if they're actually special interests or if they're more a result of my obsessive nature. I don't recall having them as a child but once I got older. I will occasionally become extremely obsessed with a subject, to the point that its even at the expense of my usual special interests, but these obsessive interests are short lived, maybe a couple of weeks to a month. Then they ease up completely and I'm back to my usual special interests. For example, as silly as it sounds, a couple of summers ago, I became obsessed with North Korea. For like, 2 weeks, I was obsessively researching and watching every youtube video and documentary I could find, and driving my friends nuts by incessantly telling them all about it, but then just like that, it ends. I've also had similar short lived obsessions with ISIS, and... I can't think of others but I'm certain there have been a couple more. I couldn't care less about those things now, but they were all consuming the way that my usual special interests are, but for a very short time.

Anyone else??

 

[Gritches]

Yup, I've had those hit-it-and-quit-it interests outside my main ones. I chalk it up to intellectual curiosity combined with an all-or-nothing nature.

 

[Katleya]

I mean, I once spent just a week learning every single thing I could on a very improbable topic, and boy, what an intense week that was! The topic? Carmen Miranda. Don't ask me why, though, because I still don't know where that came from. And it's not like I've since been able to use that information, either.

I also have some short-lived geography-related special interests, such as international dialing codes of the world (and, more importantly, the logic behind the numbers chosen), names of all the bridges crossing a certain river in the order they are encountered, things like that. It usually gets into me without any warning, and once I've reached the maximum amount of info, I lose most of the interest. In my case, it could be that it doesn't take more than a few days or weeks for certain topics to be thoroughly covered, but with something like North Korea, I doubt that this could explain the shorter dedicated time.

 

[SnailPie]

Yes. Definitely. To the extreme, almost. When I'm interested in something, it's usually an offshoot of one of my life-long interests.
And when it hits, I learn ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I CAN about the subject until I either run out of steam, am physically prevented from focusing on it (other obligations, no access to further information), I hit a roadblock in my ability to move further along due to an inability to travel/access the technology/understand the more complex aspects due to lack of education, or I get back to one of my other interests.
This is probably why I know a lot of useless stuff that doesn't help me make the big bucks...
I am curious about so many things; except sports and some more common pastimes. The more bizarre, complicated, and unusual, the more interesting I find it.

 

[WittyAspie]

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! ALL. THE. TIME! Earlier this year I became obsessed with the idea of living in a yurt. I figured out which one I would want to buy, how much it would cost, and how I would move it from place to place if I wanted to relocate. I spent weeks, if not months, researching and talking about it all the time. Then I realized I like electricity and running water too much so I gave up the whole idea.

 

[Gracey]

Yes.
For me it's curiosity.
I will start to wonder or question and have to find the answers. I will only let go of a subject when I feel I know all I need to know or am no longer curious.

This can last a couple of days or months.
For me this is a short lived interest.

 

[Sabrina]

About your North Korea obsession. When I had just graduated from college I read Henry Kissinger’s book/bible “Diplomacy”, which I loved, and I got obsessed with China and it’s international policy. I read two books on the subject back then, I subscribed to China news in CNN (I don’t see it anymore, I prefer the BBC), I made WW III scenarios... I remember talking about my opinions on the future WWIII in a friend’s wedding ... like in that U2 song ‘everybody having fun, except you, you were talking about the end of the world’, except I was actually having fun talking about the end of the world .

I still like the subject, but I’m not obsessed any more.