How a Deeper Understanding of Your Interests Leads to a Richer Life

What matters is not so much what you’re interested in but why.

I’ll just come out and say it: I love trains.

Needless to say, growing up with such an interest, I was the victim of a great deal of bullying. At school, other kids shouted “choo-choo” when they saw me, called me Thomas the Tank Engine (and many worse names), made up nonexistent types of train and asked if I liked them, relentlessly pressed me on why I found “a box on wheels” interesting, and so on. None of this even slightly dented my interest in the subject, but it sent a clear message: I didn’t fit in with ordinary people.

My “hyperfixation” on rail transport has led me to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of it—as my similarly deep interests in astronomy, aviation, science-fiction television, and other subjects have for those fields. Today, it’s clear to me that others’ inability to understand the passion I felt for the things I loved was their loss, not mine. My interest in rail transport brought me all kinds of benefits: It motivated me to travel and to explore new places; it gave me reasons to study a diverse range of subjects from electronics to business management; and it helped me understand many economic, social, and political principles. For instance, from my study of British railway operations and history, I learned about supply and demand, the benefits of competition, and how leasing and subleasing work.

Nonetheless, the fact that I was drawn to a topic most people don’t care about made me wonder why I found it interesting. The more I introspected about this and about my other passions, the more I became clear on the values underlying them. I began to realize that my admiration of the design of railway vehicles and infrastructure hinted at a deeper appreciation for functional-yet-beautiful design—something I can also enjoy in everything from skyscrapers to telephones. Similarly, the way trains connect people, cities, and countries embodied a deeper passion I had for human civilization and the ways in which we overcome natural hurdles to enhance our lives. Further, my admiration of the productive geniuses who built the first railways of Britain and America—such heroes as Richard Trevithick, George Stephenson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and J. J. Hill—grew to include productive heroes in all fields, including literature, philosophy, and architecture.

Eventually, I understood the deeper values underlying my passion for railways. My interest was not a simple fixation—it was a response to the way that rail transport reflects such life-serving values as beauty, creativity, connectivity, entrepreneurship, and civilization. These are values I choose to uphold, and that is a source of pride for me. Whereas before I merely defended my interests as an emotional reaction to being attacked—without having a clear idea of why they were worth defending—now I advocate and celebrate my passion for these things because I understand why they are good, life-serving interests to pursue.

None of this is to say that holding abstract values such as beauty, entrepreneurship, and civilization means that you should be interested in trains. There is a huge range of interests that can embody life-serving values. You may be interested in animals because you value understanding nature more broadly and you recognize that doing so adds value to human life. You may be interested in painting because you value creativity, and you value creativity because it is a crucial part of how human beings survive and enhance our lives. You may be interested in sports because you value athleticism, and athleticism promotes physical health, discipline, and teamwork, all of which improve human life. What matters is not so much what you’re interested in but why. The only reason to ever feel shame about having an interest is if the values motivating it are destructive to yourself or others—a desire to outshine someone, for example, or to fit into someone else’s idea of “normal.” But if your interests are rooted in a commitment to life-serving, rational values, then you should hold them with pride and celebrate them unreservedly. Doing so is an act of integrity to your deepest values.