The way my passion for insects started was quite plain, but I felt the way it was introduced to me was perfect.
In general I am quite independant myself. I never have too many friends becuase I quite frankly just like independance. Being 12 at the time, I was starting to think for myself a lot yet my future was still very cloudy; I had no idea what I wanted to become or be interested in. However, flipping the rocks in my yard and finding all the cool insects was something I was doing since I was a toddler, but not to an extent that it was that memorable or significant. I liked to call it "in the back of my mind". One day, in the middle of summer, I had nothing to do. And I have no idea how it popped into my head as I was generally someone who never liked trying new stuff or liked change: I wanted to collect an ant colony from my yard and raise it.
It was a disaster from there, as there was no queen and I thought at that time that winged ants (alates) could reproduce in the nest, which was not the case. The colony died overnight.
However, this sparked my brain up like it never did before. It was so oddly satisfying to watch them dig, how they socialized, how they cared for their brood. And the best thing is, I found this amazing passion of insect keeping 100% by myself, something I'd never expect myself to do.
And as of late, my knowledge has expanded from ants to other arthropods like Isopods and beetles. Arthropods are all I think about all day now, and it is my only thing I do for fun. I devote a large part of my life to it.