Interest- Life Cycle

INTEREST LIFE- CYCLE

How many of us have heard of small boys who get fascinated by toys in the form of cars, trains, trucks, planes, etc,? When you ask them what they would like to become when they grow up, most of them would say that they would like to become the driver of a vehicle of their choice. How many of them become such drivers when they grow up? Does it mean that their interest to become drivers has vanished? If so, why did it vanish?

If the interest gets stronger, it would take the form of desire. In some cases, the desire would trigger one into action. Unfortunately, the interest is not always sustainable. In many cases, it is just superficial and dies a natural death. In certain other cases, the interest continues to remain but gets suppressed due to the prevailing situation or due to other compulsions. It surfaces again when the situations change or the compulsions vanish.

Interest can get rekindled even after many years of dousing the same. The resurgence of interest takes different dimensions. The individual sometimes takes to some form of art or sports. I know of some people who have developed their sketching and painting after so many years and are doing a good job of it. The same thing is possible even in sports, but to a limited extent as the body may not be willing as much as the spirit.

The “mental sportsman” starts following the sport of his liking in the media and gets vicarious pleasure as if he is playing the sport himself. In the process, he starts supporting teams or individuals strongly. Now the interest in sports has turned into an interest in the sportsman or the team.

When the team that he supports is doing well, his spirits go high and in other times it goes far too low and affects his other activities as well. What is true of sports, is applicable in other activities like politics, finance, performing arts, and others. At this stage, the interest takes a form of ‘Disinterest’ and he is not bothered about who the winner is but still follows the sport without partisan feeling.

Disinterest is the first stage of getting “Uninterested”. Continuous manifestation of “Disinterest” leads one to “Unfollow” the sport (or any other field). He is no more setting aside timeslots to watch the sport. He may start developing interest in other fields or be just contented with a normal routine.

In the case of individuals who are able to develop their forgotten interests like arts, music, poetry, writing etc., the performer is himself and not anyone else. Failure or success depends on himself. I would call these people ‘Self Discoverers’. It is a different matter how successful he is in his rebirth as an artist, but he is certainly not aspiring to be hitting the headlines. Some recognition helps in sustaining his interest. Fortunately, there is enough opportunity to get this recognition in social media, if he is good at his art. The interest sustains irrespective of success or failure to get appreciation. If the recognition is not good, he continues his interest in a low-key but stops exposing his art to others. He becomes his own critic but the interest sustains.

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