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StuckWithin
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20 Jun 2012, 1:11 pm

I'd like to ask those who have lived with fixations, whether you have found that you are better able to recognize and control these tendencies as you get older.

Personally I still have topics of intense interest and am able to "shut off the world" when focused on them - and have been able to put this ability to good use in school. However, I have recently also begun intellectually assessing whether I'm spending too much time on something, and have found that I'm much more able nowadays to take a step back and schedule breaks. Sometimes I don't want to do it, but I force myself to, intellectually. I can't say I have always had this ability.

Is it just life experience? As many on the spectrum have said, "it gets better".



Marybird
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20 Jun 2012, 2:34 pm

No.



Dirtdigger
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20 Jun 2012, 2:41 pm

StuckWithin wrote:
I'd like to ask those who have lived with fixations, whether you have found that you are better able to recognize and control these tendencies as you get older.

Personally I still have topics of intense interest and am able to "shut off the world" when focused on them - and have been able to put this ability to good use in school. However, I have recently also begun intellectually assessing whether I'm spending too much time on something, and have found that I'm much more able nowadays to take a step back and schedule breaks. Sometimes I don't want to do it, but I force myself to, intellectually. I can't say I have always had this ability.

Is it just life experience? As many on the spectrum have said, "it gets better".


If anything my fixations have greatly increased and it is very hard for me to leave the objects I feel so close to. Since I'm now retired I spend more quality time with the objects that I love. And it makes me very happy looking forward to being with them since I have a lot of trouble socializing. I'm in my own world with my objects. I stim a lot more as well.

I'm also fixated more on making list and collecting data.



Ecl713
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20 Jun 2012, 3:10 pm

Not for me.


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StuckWithin
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20 Jun 2012, 3:16 pm

Dirtdigger wrote:
If anything my fixations have greatly increased and it is very hard for me to leave the objects I feel so close to. Since I'm now retired I spend more quality time with the objects that I love. And it makes me very happy looking forward to being with them since I have a lot of trouble socializing. I'm in my own world with my objects. I stim a lot more as well.

I'm also fixated more on making list and collecting data.

Many thanks for that perspective.

Personally, I can and do get totally consumed by things that interest me, and my willpower to stick to them until they are perfected is very strong. So maybe I gave the wrong impression with my question when I asked whether fixation decreases - for me, it's just become much easier to recognize when I'm fixated, and to realize that it might be good to take a break. But, if I entertain the fixation, man, does it ever kick into gear.

Sometimes that's great; but other times, I know that I probably should attend to other things in the meantime.



Last edited by StuckWithin on 20 Jun 2012, 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TallyMan
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20 Jun 2012, 3:22 pm

In a word: No.

In three words: It gets worse! :lol:


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Dirtdigger
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20 Jun 2012, 3:26 pm

Quote:
But, if I entertain the fixation, man, does it ever kich into gear.


Oops, man? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm a woman. LOL



StuckWithin
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20 Jun 2012, 3:53 pm

Dirtdigger wrote:
Quote:
But, if I entertain the fixation, man, does it ever kich into gear.


Oops, man? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm a woman. LOL


LOL... :D



Washi
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20 Jun 2012, 3:59 pm

TallyMan wrote:
In a word: No.

In three words: It gets worse! :lol:


True. ^^^ :lol:



ooo
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10 Jul 2012, 4:07 am

No.



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10 Jul 2012, 4:11 am

I'm 53 & offering up another no. Can't survive the dream without my propellers.


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10 Jul 2012, 6:51 am

I've always had very intense special interests and I continue to have very intense special interests. My life revolves around my main special interest. For me age has done nothing to reduce my fixation - and it's not for lack of trying. In fact, if anything, it has only gotten worse, especially as my ability to perform it, opportunities to do it, level of skill, pool of knowledge, etc. increased over time. The fixation and obsession increased with it.

Here's my main philosophy behind my music playing - if I'm not practicing, someone else is practicing, getting better than me, and they will take away my next opportunity.



Atomsk
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10 Jul 2012, 7:03 am

I want to add that I also have intense attachment to certain objects, the strongest attachment being to my J-Bass, the main instrument that I play (bass was also my first instrument, although my first bass was a P-Bass). I take the J-Bass most places with me, get intense anxiety if I think it's missing - or if I'm away from it for too long I'll start to have paranoid thoughts about it.

Although, this may be unrelated to special interest fixation increasing - to me it feels like objects have personalities - which I realize is completely illogical. I know that objects do not and cannot actually have personalities, but to me it feels like they do.



CyborgUprising
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10 Jul 2012, 7:29 am

I still have the same interests I had as a child, but I am better at having a "time and place" for them. The only thing I've noticed increasing is the amount of stimming I engage in.



LtlPinkCoupe
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10 Jul 2012, 8:19 am

I'd have to say that in my case, no. I mean, it's not like when I was younger and sort of "threw" my interests out there for everyone to see, like, talking about them constantly, etc. But I still have them, even stronger than when I was younger. I agree with the poster who said that I've gotten more attached to my interests as I've gotten older. I can't imagine life without my Cars collection, my plushies, and my books/info about contemporary/classic animation.


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