In childhood, did you have an obsession?

Post Reply New Topic

When you were younger, did you have a specific fascination or interest?
Personally dinosaurs and insects obsessed me. They are relatively normal fascinations but I took them to extremes, declaring I would be a palaeontologist when older and naming all the dinosaurs in the cretaceous period. This is what caused me to be tested for AS and obviously I tested positive. It was a good fascination that helped me to gain marks in history and biology in the early years (obviously they don’t cover them in general courses for my age group anymore) but now I have kinda ebbed away from them. I still get periods where I become obsessed with a particular thing, and hopefully if its positive I keep that enthusiasm.
I read somewhere that a strong interest/obsession in a peculiar subject whilst young can be a indicator of AS, so I wondered if it was simply a generalisation or if it was true

No not really. I loved animals and looking at animals books. I never really had the oppurtunity to explore my interests with dinosaurs but i can remember being fasinated. I got a obsessed with gymnastics - like doing my own kart-wheels, handstands and flips and playing a slave game. No-one else seem interested to play anymore but you would capture some-one and hit them with a plank or wooden stick. I don't know why but I loved that game.

My first special interests can be dated back to around 18 months, with Garfield and road signs. Aspie obsessions are one of my strongest AS symptoms, and it's been obvious since I was very, very young. I cannot imagine my life without a special interest, because I've had them ever since I can remember. The intense passion/excitement that one can garner from a special interest is the main reason why I would never not want to be an Aspie. Yes, there are things about AS that aren't fun to live with, but overall, the special interests make AS worth it to me. They make me the unique and interesting person that I am.
-OddDuckNash99-

Yes!! ! I definitely had incredibly intense interests---and as an adult I still do.

Roller Coasters---by the time I was in high school I knew the statistics for every roller coaster in the United States---designer, builder, height, length, ride time, etc. Today, as an adult, I collect vintage roller coaster blueprints. I also am working on HO scale model roller coasters. When I was in grade school, I used to draw amusement park plans on my homework.

Music---this is my talent. By the time I graduated from college, I had collected over 30 synthesizers. Today, I have around 20 electronic keyboards, 4 organs, 2 pianos, 20 dulcimers, a bunch of harmonicas, etc.

Tents---I loved tents as a child. I had gotten around a half dozen I would say by the time I was in junior high school. I liked to set them up in the yard. Once, I set some of them up in a straight line across the backyard and took great pleasure by just simply staring at them.

And I had other obsession too--caves, magic tricks (have around 100 illusions---collected as an adult), etc.

Check out my profile for my intense narrow interests.

I still do!

When I was younger it was cars, then phones, then computers. Today it's computers and cars, so it's sorta come back around!

The second World War, especially the weaponry.

Ironically, I am a pacifist and abhor war.

I also had childhood depression.......thus my obsession had to do with my mind focusing on 'me dying', and so the obsession was my daily 'verification' that I would die before I was twelve. All 'physical and experiential, even superstitious signs' pointed to it, since it was something I truly believed, (but *made up stemming from a single adult conversation I'd overheard about a woman who had a 'hole in her heart') and so in fear, and unable to tell anyone!! !! !! I simply verified the signs and symptoms, which validated my belief.....still never knew to tell anyone. It was a TERRIBLE thing for a child to experience, ALONE....my mind was my own child abuser, and there is no hope for escape from that kind of abuse. No one knew back then that kids had depression and asperger's.

Funny thing is, I do not recall if I had any major interests/obsessions when I was very young. The first such interest I remember was when I was an adolescent, I developed an interest in architecture. Before that, I have no recollection of any abnormal obsession. But ever since then, I have had nothing but obsessive interests.

Mine was meteorology, and I still have that obsession today.

Age 3: Trains
Age 4: Trains
Age 5: Police Officers (I wanted to be one, I would dress like one everyday); Dinosaurs
Age 6: Dinosaurs
Age 7: Outer Space, Mickey Mouse
Age 8: Outer Space, Mickey Mouse
Age 9: Making Newspapers
Age 10: Pokemon cards, Video-games: Diddy Kong Racing, 007 Goldeneye
Age 11: Video-games: Resident Evil 1 and 2, WWF Wrestling, Pokemon games
Age 12: WWF Wrestling

BAM! I almost forgot about this. I just remembered a comment I made the other day, perhaps in a thread here, about when I wanted to be a cop and I dressed like one and even wrote tickets to other kids. This lasted a couple of years for me. Perhaps other posts here will further jog my memory.

I remember wanting to be a train or truck driver. Then when I got a bit older I said I wanted to be a model or work in a factory.
The social worker said "no you don't want to work in a factory' but guess what thats just what I did.
I remember wanting to be a nurse and/or a Teacher as well. Moslty I remember when people asked me I said I wanted to be a train or truck driver.

When I was younger my obsessions were human biology, astronomy, cats eyes (the reflectors found on roads!), the Forth bridges, Babylon 5 and video games.

Around age 4-5, I was completely obsessed with Roy Rogers - I had some cowboy boots that I absolutely HAD to wear (even though I had outgrown them) & a bouncy rocking horse that was "Trigger."

About 6-7, I was fixated on "The Man from UNCLE"

Between the ages of 8 & 13, rockets & the space program were my passion.

From 13 on, it was Music, Music, Music (at least, until it became clear - around the age of 40 - that I didn't have the social skills to get jobs as a professional musician.)

(More current interests include computers & Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)

Yes, when I was young, I was very fascinated by the nine planets (I know there might be eight now). Still, even at such a young age, I'd make pictures and books with drawings of each one, the temperature, the size of them, distance from the sun and an interesting fact about each one. I was only in the 3rd grade and yet, I knew all those things about them anyways. As I got older I lost interest in them but once I started to learn about the planets again when I was in the 8th grade, I instantly remembered everything about them.

I went through phases.

one was King Tut.

A very big one when I was little was Pinnochio, where I would dress like Pinnochio, say I was Pinnochio, draw nothing but Pinnochio with his nose really long and birds sitting on his nose..