What Happens to Autistic Special Interests?

What happens to an autistic special interest once you lose interest?

I don't have to worry about my interest in Chuck Berry. I always compared his career to that of Sgt. Pepper. "He's been going in and out of style, but he's guaranteed to raise a smile." Even if my own interest waxes and wanes, he's eternal, and his music is always there to remind me.

I remember a lot of intense interests that never clicked. As a child I wanted a croquet set until I got one. We played once. As a young teenager I was under the influence of nearby gold country and very briefly explored things like gold panning and horse-shoeing. I remember reading avidly about pigeons, for about a week. I tried building a telescope. Did not succeed. I was a photographer for a year or so, and then a movie-maker.

When I became an adult I found, quite by accident, that my legal cases became intense special interests. The exploding trucks of my book title (My So-Called Disorder: Autism, Exploding Trucks, and the Big-Daddy of Rock and Roll) were by far the most intense, but every case took me over for a time. For months I'd think only of childproof bottle caps. For years I would be obsessed by upper floor windows that provided deadly exits for toddlers. Whatever car had most recently injured a client was all I could think about until the case ended.

But when the case ended, I forgot it all, except for a few "war stories." I was on to the next one.

A few years ago I retired from the practice of law. I've found nothing to replace it. The way I practiced law it satisfied a thousand of my itches. I could be speaker, writer, teacher, movie-maker, thinker, artist, comedian, and all the while extremely, exuberantly autistic.

For a year or so I've been dabbling on another case. My work was supposed to be part time and behind the scenes. It has been fun--until a series of events threatened to put me back into the driver's seat of that case. And what I realized, in a heartbeat, is that I am no longer that person. The lawyer in me has left the building. That case--whatever its merits-- could never rise again to the level of interest that it once would have inspired in me.  

I hope I continue to find intense new interests. A few years ago I found an interesting in neighborhood birds that continues, slowly, to grow, but it will never be like Chuck or the pickups. Same with Italian. I became intensely interested for a while, but now it has passed. 

Do we outgrow our special interests? Do we outgrow our need for special interests?

Do we just grow old and become less interested?

I hope not.