At age 8, whenever someone would ask me about my interests, I’d respond with, “life during the 1800s.” Unlike other children, I found adventure through reading classical literature, and I marveled over the lifestyle of the age. Once, I surprised my mother by claiming, “I do not prefer Dickens.” My favorite TV show was “Little House on the Prairie.” I saved up my allowance to purchase an abundance of old-fashioned dresses. All my dolls lived the lifestyle one would during the Laura Ingalls days. The reality of the modern age brought despair to me, and I longed for a time machine that could allow me to sense the joy of the age outside of my mind’s eye.
Now, it’s airships. Most assume I enjoy it because I am a “Steampunk” or simply a “Geek,” which may not be entirely false. What they do not realize is that I own notebooks full of my planning on how I may one day soar the skies as the captain of a small-sized zeppelin.
I hear of people with wonderful-sounding interests all the time. It stretches from Leonardo da Vinci to Gothic fashion. They seem to find ways to use their special interests to create wonderful, magical things. They tend to know more about these interests than many other people do. There is sometimes a tendency to make fun of people who do not think the same way as “normal.” This finds its way to those with special interests. For example, instead of skateboarding, one child wishes to build his own jetpack. He knows all about the past and present history of them and some day will become their future. Yet if the child is called a “nerd” and “weird,” he might rethink his idea. The wonder of the future could be rewritten and fall away simply because one kid is not allowed to be creative.
Special interests are a special thing, and I’m proud of them. They can lead you to places no one else dares to go. Interests can carry people toward ideas and an abundance of knowledge and creativity. Never doubt these special interests.
We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here.
I’m Sage, a teenage explorer and writer living largely my imagination. My brain is a bit different than average.
sage-allaway