Reluctant to share interests

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I have this strange, uncomfortable feeling that sharing my interests with others will dilute them.
The more I share the less interested I become, as though I've given it away piece by piece.
In consequence, I only share my lesser interests.

Its possible that an attempt to diminish the personal interest by another person can potentially dampen the passion you have which is understandable why you would choose to refrain from sharing.

Yeah, its the whole not wanting to have something that I am passionate about being dumped on. I feel that I actually enjoy them more without broadcasting them to the world.

i'm happier when i can get it off my chest and with luck find ears willing to hear me out.

For some reason, I feel really uncomfortable when anyone at work finds out that I'm a musician. Not that they're being unpleasant about it in any way. More that I wanted to keep that side of my life completely seperate from what I have to do to earn a living.

I think most people would agree that it's quite hurtful to tell somebody to shut up. In fact it's often considered good manners to listen (or at least appear to listen) to people and to assume that they won't abuse the privilege. But we get carried away and we do abuse the privilege, which pushes people into a corner where they have to choose between hurting our feelings by withdrawing their attention and keeping up that painful pretense of being interested, not knowing how long it will be before we'll let them go. I suppose NTs rarely feel as fascinated as we do about anything, so it's easier for them to stop talking before that point is reached.

My father would often start talking at people about his special interest (pigeons), and would look very hurt when he exceeded their patience and they let it slip that they'd had enough. You couldn't even escape from his lectures politely without hurting his feelings. But as he got older he began to mellow, and he'd see what was going on and say something like "I know, I've found the accelerator but I can't seem to figure out where the brake is." My own experiences are very similar.

I used to irritate my father and a couple other family members to no end, so when I see him and them I am on my best behavior with that, meaning it's best I don't bring it up, so I don't.