How I'm Learning to Special Interest

A guest post for those of us who struggle to know what we like :)

Welcome to Healing is my Special Interest, the newsletter at the intersection of late-diagnosed neurodivergence and healing from high control environments. Today I am excited to share this delightful essay by a late-diagnosed autistic person who shares candidly about their struggle to learn how engage in a special interest (or even find one!). For privacy reasons, the author requested this essay be behind a paywall. You can join us in our lovely community for $35 a year (which is around .68 cents a week) and I promise you will enjoy your extra content and community building — plus you will be supporting autistic writers!

Photo by César Couto on Unsplash

Learning to Special Interest

Guest post by Melody Newburn

I’m intentionally learning how to special interest, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one. I’m 41 and new to the absolute joy of engaging in a special interest. It’s like my heart and mind (and sometimes my body when it’s sensory) are vibing and exploding with positive feels. I feel very “me” and like my nervous system is both calm but massively excited and focused. It just feels right in a tingly, puppy-love kind of way, and doing my special interests makes things feel safe in my inner world. When my inner world is well, I have a deeper and wider capacity as an individual, partner, parent, and local and global community member. How does engaging in a special interest feel for you?