How does your special interest start?

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When it comes to an intense interest how does yours start? Myself it can be a thought,something I've seen or heard, it's not something that can be forced. The way I would describe it is...if someone pointed a gun to my head and told me to develop an interest in a random subject/object etc otherwise I would get the bullet, it's highly likely I would indeed get the bullet. I've tried to get interested in things Spanish language for example ....nothing.

Yep it's random and never planned. I never know what the next one will be.

For me, usually once I develop an interest it doesn't fizzle out but remains, though it may spread out and diffuse more if I am applying myself to something else or to a different interest and can be refocused once I start to apply myself to it again.

The process usually starts with simple curiosity, followed by weighing and considering its merits as to its potential benefits to me and in general, that is usually enough to get the process going and it grows from there; though interests may occasionally wane from time to time but rarely fizzle out for a prolonged period of time, unless I decide it is of a lower priority and focus my attention to other interests, then it may slowly wane, though a mild interest tends to remain with a few exceptions and can be re-ignited if I focus on it enough, usually.

@The Avenger, it's interesting you mentioned the Spanish language, that's one interest that has been ignited by watching a video of a polyglot and then I thought something like, "Ya know, acquiring a mastery of the Spanish language would be quite useful and open plenty of opportunities..." and thus a new interest was born, though I unfortunately have enough other things that it is currently a lower priority and so I haven't had as much time to dedicate to learning it as I like....

It's usually the first of its kind. I'll use languages as an example, Spanish was the first language I attempted to learn, so it became and still is my special interest. As for countries, Estonia was one of my first favourites. I was so obsessed with it, I have a book about Estonia, an Estonian t-shirt, I even attempted to learn Estonian. I then quit after realising it's called one of the hardest languages in Europe for a reason.

Usually out of the blue. Yet, other special interests can stem from this special interest. For example, I used to be really into TV idents and this led to an interest in test cards.

The interests I have developed in the past came about in ways that were meaningful for me at that moment. Like when I started getting into my health, I would read about it and practiced many diets and exercises and things to help with stress. Even though I have a lot of the information, I don't put a lot of it into practice due to not having the discipline to stick to it, but I know how lots of things affect me and can help. It's probably more about collecting helpful information. I can become very single minded about subjects for years and it's really annoying hearing people say I am obsessed or focusing too much on it.

It spawns from the primordial soup that is my brain, then evolves into some kind of parastitic, gluttonous monster demanding "feed me!"

My interests usually start when I see it on the internet or TV or whatever, and I start to search it up and know more about it.
Most of my obsessions are "music" related, mostly because I listen to music most of my day, so when I hear a certain genre and/or sometimes a new band, I get obsessed with it.
My current obsession is Punk rock (specifically "Hardcore Punk"), which is- like I said, music related.

Mine start when I see an opportunity to create something useful that others have missed.

I can't be forced into being interested (or losing interested in) something either. My special interests usually start with me being introduced to them and then something just clicks. My karate instructor taught us about Chinese culture one day and that began my obsession with Asia, for example. Though I don't remember the exact moment, the same thing happened with the U.S. Civil War. Usually, I can pinpoint the moment I started a special interest, not the exact day but the context of it. I think the main feeling I get when I have a new special interest is intense curiosity.

Mine are usually escapes, and quite broad. And no, not things I can force. I have wanted to master a hobby for so long and have tried so many things, but I can't force it.

Looking back, all of the things that I would class as my special interests are things that have helped me emotionally. Being on the school's one and only computer was a reward when I was 6, for always finishing my work long before everyone else. The teacher had nothing else to give me, so sent me out of the room and I got to sit on my own and use the computer (a BBC Micro at the time). So, it was privacy and an escape from the other children. This has always been my biggest special interest and I still use it to balance out all of the input in the world - it keeps me calm and gives me something to focus on when things are too intense or stressful.

Photography is another. I think this helped because it gave me something to do when I was at events or out in public. Instead of standing around feeling lost, or wandering aimlessly, it presented an opportunity to be busy and focus on something.

Music is the other. Again, that has always been a huge emotional and calming influence and is the only thing that can pull me out of the most difficult emotional states - I've learned that if I feel myself getting towards a meltdown/shutdown, I can usually control it with music. I also use music for driving, and without it I can't focus on the driving or not getting too worked out and panicked by the ridiculous behaviour of other road users.

I've came to appreciate they are as part of myself as my own eyeballs and blood cells, they just flow like the water going down a drainpipe, I don't even notice when I 'start', I get embroiled within the tempest utterly naturally without a visible entrance point and I find I am happy whenever I do actually realize. It is as necessary to me as to blink or breathe, my brain is simply embedded within the interests that are tugging at me.

Mine usually start when I see an opportunity for useful work that has not been done before.