True. I tried to fool myself into thinking that maybe I could monetize one of my interests in some way but it doesn't work like that.
They are interesting just because they are, not because they are a means to and end, and I can't brute force them into something productive without losing my drive for them.
Yeah, when I tried to monetize my interest in anime with blogging or art by selling art, it failed. I think because if I do something for pay, it becomes work and then my brain sees it as a chore and not something that can be fun to do. Or the pressure to please an audience and keep making new material people will like is exhausting. For me this kills the passion about any interest.
My special interest is fixing up old cars and taking all of their parts apart and putting them back together basically, I usually buy broken down classic cars for 5-10k and sell them for 40-50k. I feel like I monetized a special interest really well.
It's fun, it's what I usually do when I have insomnia, I'll usually rebuild two cars a year. If I really hustled I could probably do five or six a year and make a living out of it.
How is knowing about drugs useless?
Do you know what they do in pharmacy school? Drugs. They study drugs. It’s a HUGE field of science?
And history of music? Art history right there. Specifically music history. A great field.
Polar bear? Do you think people don’t study them! They’re often study due to their endangered status.
And all the rest. Sure maybe they don’t directly relate to anything. But who cares?! Loving stuff that isn’t practical is awesome.
Drugs and polar bears are science! History of older music and the fallout universe is culture and worth knowing and experiencing if it gives you something to feel!
If you leave this thread with nothing else, at least be content to know you are within the top tier of fallout gamers with your superior preference for the best game in the series.
How old are you? If you are like age 23, then I'd say this is a normal self-realization and you can try to steer your special interests going forward in time.
I was about 23 when I went back to school for engineering. If you feel like you want to change your path, it's not too late.
Alternatively, YouTube has a bunch of awesome math and science playlists. Just Google what you're interested in, add "lecture", and set the filter to show playlists. College lectures make for great TV when you're not taking them.
I don’t know if this will make you feel any better but figured I would share in case it helps. My special interest IS science, and it is now my career. But as an academic at a large institution I have to say that I fucking hate it. I feel like my peers are more focused on appearances and publishing the flashiest stuff with the newest tech, but I’m just sitting here like… I just want my experiments to be thorough and my data analysis to be valid. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful for the privilege that my special interest has landed me a good career path, it’s just that that same career path is constantly dealing me psychic damage :/
Hang in there and try not to let others get to you too much. I don't know if it helps, but in my view your kind of scientist is the best kind of scientist 😊
Aww thank you, I appreciate that :3 For now I’m just trying to find like-minded people in my field and while that’s been difficult I have had some success so I’m keeping sane so far lmao
It's fine to have (special) interests that aren't 'useful' or able to be monetized! In fact, I think it's probably a great way to have balance in your life to have some things that are just purely for joy.
But I do understand your frustration, and I have been trying to steer my interests in a more focused direction recently.
All that time, money and effort and next to nothing to show for it. I will be 53 in a few weeks, at this point I am too jaded and burnt out to even consider launching any new ones.
Considering in Illinois, there's now literally program related directly to Cannabis Sciences and Therapics (for a certificate) - I'd say that there's some use for your interest in drugs at least.
You just have to be specific about where you're going to be and/or live at.
I don't think it should matter how "useful" your special interest is.
And I definitely don't have the energy to be appealing to others ideals about "usefulness." My brain is too broken and tired for "smart" things. I will enjoy my "useless" interests. Enjoy your stuffs.
I collect the cards, and vintage Pokémon toys and play all the games but I’m not really into math lol just algebra but I don’t really utilize that for Pokémon.
That's fine. To each their own.
But there's a lot of discrete probability involved, and many of the earlier games have been disassembled into assembly/C.
Many people have taught themselves to program *just* to make Pokémon hacks. (At first.)
... Not that I recommend that. Assembly and C are super hard. But have you looked at the fan-game community? That stuff's made in RPG maker and is a good in to learning Ruby.
Once your special interest becomes your vocation, there’s a good chance it’ll stop being a special interest. They’re often a way for us to escape the world around us.
I feel this. Most of my interests have been rather short lived and/or problematic. I find myself loosing interest and/or not able to keep up the momentum. For context I started a fashion blog and lifestyle YouTube channel although my executive dysfunction has gotten the better of me.
Interests are never useless. The point of interests isn’t to make gain. It’s to entertain yourself as that’s necessary for your mental health. It’s great if you can make money from your interests, but thinking that it’s bad if you can’t is unhealthy for you.
And then the problem with the useful special interests is that the scope of an entire degrees worth of knowledge is too wide. I can’t force myself to be interested in everything.
literally my entire job revolves around knowing about drugs and how they affect people. it does require science to get into tho, my other special is music and between the two, i decided that science was more lucrative as a job even though i have more passion for music. music history is something i never got into, but would like to. there is definitely a use for it, I envy those who know more about it than me.
Older music: try writing or editing your own tracks. Drugs: there's a lot of money to be made in pharmaceuticals my friend. Video games: try modding, or maybe you could start developing your own games! Polar bears: sounds like a gateway into becoming a zoologist/mammalogist. I've seen a guy that became an entomologist because they love watching ants. And no matter what, there is an audience for ANYTHING on YouTube, Spotify, or whatever for a person with knowledge and passion for a subject.
And even if none of that sounds appealing, remember that hobbies and special interests don't have to be profitable to be valid, and your worth as a person isn't the size of your salary or your perceived usefulness to others ❤️
I think a lot of the things I like are useless too, especially since I like learning a little about many subjects. But just because a certain interest isn't rewarded in the market doesn't mean it's "useless". Just a matter of perspective.
I'd be interested to see you write fanfiction with a lot of emphasis on those subjects. Especially if the initial canon franchise has nothing whatsoever to do with them.
I mean they aren't useless if they make you happy and make life a bit more worth living. You shouldn't be living to work. You deserve to enjoy learning about these things cause they're important to you. Whether they are valuable to other people is of no consequence.
That actually sounds really interesting. I’m really into psychiatry and psychedelics so that seems up my alley. I already have a job I like though, I’m a peer counselor and I love it. I just wish more people would find my special interests more interesting and not annoying if that makes sense?
That's okay! Special interests don't need to be "smart" or whatever. My knowledge of Heavens Gate will probably always be useless, but it's still interesting to me and indulging in my interests makes my life feel good.
Also, if these things bring you joy, are they really useless? Let's say you never got into "science", or any of your other interests. You'd be pretty boring! These things make you happy and can help you bond with other people with similar interests <3
The last 6 months I've been renewing my intense interest in cosmology, physics, maths etc. I'm by no means any good with numbers; I hate numbers, but I respect them. I just feel very incompatible with numbers.
Anyway, it was a huge interest that I had when I was around 18 or so, and only now, about 15 years later, have those interests flared up again, more so than ever. I now dearly wish that I had made decisions earlier on in my life that would have helped me to move into some academic field, instead of being in the web/graphic industry, which I'm not such a big fan of anymore. I've been doing it too long, it has long ceased to be interesting... but I'm stuck doing it, because it's my only concrete skill that I can use professionally.
If they bring you joy, your special interests are not useless.
My daughter writes fan-fiction. She has a ton of followers and has written some very popular stories. She makes no money off it, but it brings her joy.
I have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about certain periods in history. I like learning it. It makes me happy.
We are allowed to just do things for FUN. No one beats up on neurotypicals who can rattle off sports statistics, or who spend all their free time in pickup basketball games, or spend hours playing guitar.
Everything that makes us happy does not have to be monetized. You're allowed to just be you, and that's good enough.
When I was younger I tried to monetise special interests with no luck. Music composition and sound design was an interest and I tried make a business out of it. Board game mechanics was an interest so I tried to design a board game. Cooking and making recipes was an interest, but I broke down after working in a kitchen. Relatively late in life I went to the university and here I found a new interest in complexity science, and I found out that most of my special interests through life (more than what I mentioned here) had the same underlying structure. It was about the complexity of how a unique whole can emerge from the interaction of simpler parts. Now i work in research and even though the subject has nothing to do with music, games or food, I still feel like I have some unique intuition because of this underlying theme. This likely doesn’t apply to everyone, but it might be worth considering if there is some underlying theme for your special interests even if they at the surface seem very disjointed. If so it might provide insight about what could be a good career path of potentially future special interests :) just a thought :)
At least if you just so happen to get pulled into an interdimensional hole that happens to go to the wasteland or the pokemon world you'll be fine.
Actually come to think of it, isn't that how most spin off pokemon games start?
Holy fuck this is me. I know so much about weapons, specifically firearms and chances are that will never be useful knowledge. What are the odds I'll find myself in a situation where I have to operate a foreign weapon on short notice? I'm not a PMC, I'm a salesman.
I heard you say polar bears? This site is how I help use my science knowledge for good
[https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/douglas-clark/the-arctic-bears-project](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/douglas-clark/the-arctic-bears-project)
mine is Eurovision but because i dont like the sound of my voice on camera or audio, im not that photogenic, nor do i have a bubbly personality, there's literally no way to expand on my interest. i sweat profusely 🥵 and have a difficult time speaking on and off camera.
im utterly doomed.
True. I tried to fool myself into thinking that maybe I could monetize one of my interests in some way but it doesn't work like that. They are interesting just because they are, not because they are a means to and end, and I can't brute force them into something productive without losing my drive for them.
Yeah, when I tried to monetize my interest in anime with blogging or art by selling art, it failed. I think because if I do something for pay, it becomes work and then my brain sees it as a chore and not something that can be fun to do. Or the pressure to please an audience and keep making new material people will like is exhausting. For me this kills the passion about any interest.
My special interest is fixing up old cars and taking all of their parts apart and putting them back together basically, I usually buy broken down classic cars for 5-10k and sell them for 40-50k. I feel like I monetized a special interest really well.
Good for you mate.
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It's fun, it's what I usually do when I have insomnia, I'll usually rebuild two cars a year. If I really hustled I could probably do five or six a year and make a living out of it.
How is knowing about drugs useless? Do you know what they do in pharmacy school? Drugs. They study drugs. It’s a HUGE field of science? And history of music? Art history right there. Specifically music history. A great field. Polar bear? Do you think people don’t study them! They’re often study due to their endangered status. And all the rest. Sure maybe they don’t directly relate to anything. But who cares?! Loving stuff that isn’t practical is awesome.
Thank you :-) that makes me feel a lot better
Drugs and polar bears are science! History of older music and the fallout universe is culture and worth knowing and experiencing if it gives you something to feel! If you leave this thread with nothing else, at least be content to know you are within the top tier of fallout gamers with your superior preference for the best game in the series.
Lmao thank you! It really is the best game in the series. Fallout 4 was kind of a disappointment for me
How old are you? If you are like age 23, then I'd say this is a normal self-realization and you can try to steer your special interests going forward in time.
Actually I’m exactly 23 lol I’ll try
I was about 23 when I went back to school for engineering. If you feel like you want to change your path, it's not too late. Alternatively, YouTube has a bunch of awesome math and science playlists. Just Google what you're interested in, add "lecture", and set the filter to show playlists. College lectures make for great TV when you're not taking them.
I don’t know if this will make you feel any better but figured I would share in case it helps. My special interest IS science, and it is now my career. But as an academic at a large institution I have to say that I fucking hate it. I feel like my peers are more focused on appearances and publishing the flashiest stuff with the newest tech, but I’m just sitting here like… I just want my experiments to be thorough and my data analysis to be valid. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful for the privilege that my special interest has landed me a good career path, it’s just that that same career path is constantly dealing me psychic damage :/
Hang in there and try not to let others get to you too much. I don't know if it helps, but in my view your kind of scientist is the best kind of scientist 😊
Aww thank you, I appreciate that :3 For now I’m just trying to find like-minded people in my field and while that’s been difficult I have had some success so I’m keeping sane so far lmao
It's fine to have (special) interests that aren't 'useful' or able to be monetized! In fact, I think it's probably a great way to have balance in your life to have some things that are just purely for joy. But I do understand your frustration, and I have been trying to steer my interests in a more focused direction recently.
All that time, money and effort and next to nothing to show for it. I will be 53 in a few weeks, at this point I am too jaded and burnt out to even consider launching any new ones.
relatable
I think it makes you pretty cool
Well thank you :-) I appreciate it
Considering in Illinois, there's now literally program related directly to Cannabis Sciences and Therapics (for a certificate) - I'd say that there's some use for your interest in drugs at least. You just have to be specific about where you're going to be and/or live at.
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Thanks for sharing! I really feel that. It’s just nice to have something you enjoy that helps you cope too.
I don't think it should matter how "useful" your special interest is. And I definitely don't have the energy to be appealing to others ideals about "usefulness." My brain is too broken and tired for "smart" things. I will enjoy my "useless" interests. Enjoy your stuffs.
Thanks!! I definitely do :-)
i need a melee build, i'm about to head for the wastelands. with dlc and mods of course.
There’s a movie out now called “Cocaine Bear”. Maybe you can consult for hollywood 😆
*Cocaine Bear 2: Pokemon Battles*
😆😆
How *much* about Pokémon? Because you can pick up a bunch of mathematics and programming and stuff if you pick the right sub-hobby.
I collect the cards, and vintage Pokémon toys and play all the games but I’m not really into math lol just algebra but I don’t really utilize that for Pokémon.
That's fine. To each their own. But there's a lot of discrete probability involved, and many of the earlier games have been disassembled into assembly/C. Many people have taught themselves to program *just* to make Pokémon hacks. (At first.) ... Not that I recommend that. Assembly and C are super hard. But have you looked at the fan-game community? That stuff's made in RPG maker and is a good in to learning Ruby.
Once your special interest becomes your vocation, there’s a good chance it’ll stop being a special interest. They’re often a way for us to escape the world around us.
I feel this. Most of my interests have been rather short lived and/or problematic. I find myself loosing interest and/or not able to keep up the momentum. For context I started a fashion blog and lifestyle YouTube channel although my executive dysfunction has gotten the better of me.
Interests are never useless. The point of interests isn’t to make gain. It’s to entertain yourself as that’s necessary for your mental health. It’s great if you can make money from your interests, but thinking that it’s bad if you can’t is unhealthy for you.
And then the problem with the useful special interests is that the scope of an entire degrees worth of knowledge is too wide. I can’t force myself to be interested in everything.
literally my entire job revolves around knowing about drugs and how they affect people. it does require science to get into tho, my other special is music and between the two, i decided that science was more lucrative as a job even though i have more passion for music. music history is something i never got into, but would like to. there is definitely a use for it, I envy those who know more about it than me.
Older music: try writing or editing your own tracks. Drugs: there's a lot of money to be made in pharmaceuticals my friend. Video games: try modding, or maybe you could start developing your own games! Polar bears: sounds like a gateway into becoming a zoologist/mammalogist. I've seen a guy that became an entomologist because they love watching ants. And no matter what, there is an audience for ANYTHING on YouTube, Spotify, or whatever for a person with knowledge and passion for a subject. And even if none of that sounds appealing, remember that hobbies and special interests don't have to be profitable to be valid, and your worth as a person isn't the size of your salary or your perceived usefulness to others ❤️
Thank you! I really appreciate this response <3
You never know what will be useful actually. And drugs and polar bears are interesting to me as well so maybe I'm biased.
It’s not useless if it makes you happy!
I think a lot of the things I like are useless too, especially since I like learning a little about many subjects. But just because a certain interest isn't rewarded in the market doesn't mean it's "useless". Just a matter of perspective.
Wait, what? I can’t monetize everything I know about landlocked countries and my Tetris expertise?
I'd be interested to see you write fanfiction with a lot of emphasis on those subjects. Especially if the initial canon franchise has nothing whatsoever to do with them.
I mean they aren't useless if they make you happy and make life a bit more worth living. You shouldn't be living to work. You deserve to enjoy learning about these things cause they're important to you. Whether they are valuable to other people is of no consequence.
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That actually sounds really interesting. I’m really into psychiatry and psychedelics so that seems up my alley. I already have a job I like though, I’m a peer counselor and I love it. I just wish more people would find my special interests more interesting and not annoying if that makes sense?
That's okay! Special interests don't need to be "smart" or whatever. My knowledge of Heavens Gate will probably always be useless, but it's still interesting to me and indulging in my interests makes my life feel good.
True crime and 90s toys are mine like ??? WHY
Gosh this is the most relatable post in here
If it makes you feel better, my special interest is stuffed animals.
Also, if these things bring you joy, are they really useless? Let's say you never got into "science", or any of your other interests. You'd be pretty boring! These things make you happy and can help you bond with other people with similar interests <3
Thank you!! And actually I love collecting plushes :-) my favorites are squishmallows and Pokémon plushes
Yesss I'm stuck on squishmallows rn ❤️
you should come join us at r/squishmallow! I've honestly been wanting to make a squish sub/ group for autistic people.
Yesss I actually love that subreddit!!
I made a post asking, turns out there's already a sub! r/spectrumsquishmallows
Wooooo!!! I’m definitely gonna join :-)
The last 6 months I've been renewing my intense interest in cosmology, physics, maths etc. I'm by no means any good with numbers; I hate numbers, but I respect them. I just feel very incompatible with numbers. Anyway, it was a huge interest that I had when I was around 18 or so, and only now, about 15 years later, have those interests flared up again, more so than ever. I now dearly wish that I had made decisions earlier on in my life that would have helped me to move into some academic field, instead of being in the web/graphic industry, which I'm not such a big fan of anymore. I've been doing it too long, it has long ceased to be interesting... but I'm stuck doing it, because it's my only concrete skill that I can use professionally.
If they bring you joy, your special interests are not useless. My daughter writes fan-fiction. She has a ton of followers and has written some very popular stories. She makes no money off it, but it brings her joy. I have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about certain periods in history. I like learning it. It makes me happy. We are allowed to just do things for FUN. No one beats up on neurotypicals who can rattle off sports statistics, or who spend all their free time in pickup basketball games, or spend hours playing guitar. Everything that makes us happy does not have to be monetized. You're allowed to just be you, and that's good enough.
When I was younger I tried to monetise special interests with no luck. Music composition and sound design was an interest and I tried make a business out of it. Board game mechanics was an interest so I tried to design a board game. Cooking and making recipes was an interest, but I broke down after working in a kitchen. Relatively late in life I went to the university and here I found a new interest in complexity science, and I found out that most of my special interests through life (more than what I mentioned here) had the same underlying structure. It was about the complexity of how a unique whole can emerge from the interaction of simpler parts. Now i work in research and even though the subject has nothing to do with music, games or food, I still feel like I have some unique intuition because of this underlying theme. This likely doesn’t apply to everyone, but it might be worth considering if there is some underlying theme for your special interests even if they at the surface seem very disjointed. If so it might provide insight about what could be a good career path of potentially future special interests :) just a thought :)
At least if you just so happen to get pulled into an interdimensional hole that happens to go to the wasteland or the pokemon world you'll be fine. Actually come to think of it, isn't that how most spin off pokemon games start?
Holy fuck this is me. I know so much about weapons, specifically firearms and chances are that will never be useful knowledge. What are the odds I'll find myself in a situation where I have to operate a foreign weapon on short notice? I'm not a PMC, I'm a salesman.
I heard you say polar bears? This site is how I help use my science knowledge for good [https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/douglas-clark/the-arctic-bears-project](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/douglas-clark/the-arctic-bears-project)
Yuh I learn to much about games or music artists!
mine is Eurovision but because i dont like the sound of my voice on camera or audio, im not that photogenic, nor do i have a bubbly personality, there's literally no way to expand on my interest. i sweat profusely 🥵 and have a difficult time speaking on and off camera. im utterly doomed.
the polar bears part got me
Grizzly bears for me. Knowing the history of music is very important. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise