Unique interests can be challenging to support resource wise. Finding enough people or sometimes even one person who shares your interest to the depth of your knowledge can change everything in how you feel about yourself. Yet why does it. Sharing a pathway through learning or engaging in activities is not only about sharing the resources or sharing your time or talking in detail about the topic, its also something where you get to practice talking out loud about your interests and getting feedback from others about your ideas and the way you are able to and want to express them. How many favourite interests are all consuming versus there is not a lot of depth provided in a way that is accessible to you in other areas so you stay with one topic because it simply works for you. Occupational Therapists analyse the skills required to complete tasks across different environments and can look at group dynamics for each individuals skills, the purpose of the group related to the tasks and develop strategies to balance the needs of each individual as well as the group goals. Who are the best fit? Why is it that some kids are drawn to conversations with adults? What depth of content and knowledge do adults provide that the kids who ‘are’ around them don’t know or don’t want to know. Why is it that more and more kids and adults are drawn online to search for places to share their unique interests? Discrepancies or gaps in knowledge can impact significantly in what it ‘looks like’ to others about how people spend their time over the course of the day, weeks, months or years. What can seem as disinterest can be lack of access to others who share those interests due to living in an environment that doesn’t have those resources e.g. small town in the country. Trauma can also have a significant impact on how people choose to use their time. Needing personal space to have a physical and emotional break from what has been happening, is still happening or is about to happen can require 1:1 time with yourself to plan more for your own self care.
It is important to analyse the movement of people across their entire lifespan and their interests linked with their environments and those others interacting with them before determine the perceived value or benefit or making a judgement statement about how someone spends their time.