Interesting the way you said that.
Lost. My earliest ones were to be a paleontologist (I still have a strong interest in dinosaurs), or a writer (kind of diffused in the years since and isn’t what I thought it was). And I was discouraged from pursuing them (my father, the school guidance counselor), I lost a part of me that I didn’t realize I’d lost until years later.

Maybe I did lose it.
Something felt absent.
Or number at least.

If you have Twitter, search for and follow @AutisticRealms. She and @Stimpunks have a decent amount of information on monotropism. But I must tell you, it burrrrrrrns me that you were fired. Even if we aren’t autistic, discrimination (if in the US) is not stamped out. It’s thriving.

If it isn’t stressful, in your own time (it is the holidays), could you tell me more about losing the connection to your occupational interests?