Burnt out ? What do you do?

[Dutchman]

I would suggest you maybe take a saturday off, go to a picnic with your woodworking brethren, enjoy good food and drink, discuss future and past projects, tools, techniques, visit with good folks,.....

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by Dutchman

I would suggest you maybe take a saturday off, go to a picnic with your woodworking brethren, enjoy good food and drink, discuss future and past projects, tools, techniques, visit with good folks,.....

Now that's one of the best suggestions I've heard in a while

Dave

[FredP]

well since I've been burt out since the 70's maybe I will try the picnic thing. it will pass in most cases!

[SteveColes]

Originally Posted by FredP

well since I've been burt out since the 70's maybe I will try the picnic thing. it will pass in most cases!

Fred I don't think you meant "burned out" More likely OD'd

[BKind2Anmls]

I've been burned out several times, but fortunately it hasn't lasted more than a month at at time. Sometimes reading articles or books on new techniques helps but mostly getting together with other woodworkers gets me inspired again. When I don't feel like working in the shop, I add guilt to the exerperience. Woodworking is such an expensive hobby, and my husband has been very patient with the expenditures, that I feel like I am also letting him down by not going out there as much as possible.
I tell myself that if I quit and sell my tools I will get less than 50% of what I paid back. Then if I ever change my mind and want to pick it up again...too bad, so sad. So, I still have all my tools (but not, necessarily, all my marbles).

[Jon]

Thanks everyone I will keep my stuff and just give it some time.

My new Avatar helps.

[DaveO]

$12 is a bargain

Dave

[Glennbear]

Originally Posted by BKind2Anmls

I've been burned out several times, but fortunately it hasn't lasted more than a month at at time. Sometimes reading articles or books on new techniques helps but mostly getting together with other woodworkers gets me inspired again. When I don't feel like working in the shop, I add guilt to the exerperience. Woodworking is such an expensive hobby, and my husband has been very patient with the expenditures, that I feel like I am also letting him down by not going out there as much as possible.
I tell myself that if I quit and sell my tools I will get less than 50% of what I paid back. Then if I ever change my mind and want to pick it up again...too bad, so sad. So, I still have all my tools (but not, necessarily, all my marbles).

I still have all my marbles but I keep dropping them because I cannot remember where I put the bag

[Trent Mason]

Jon,

This is one of the most interesting posts I've ever read on here. I know you already thanked everyone and I got in here pretty late, but I just wanted to give my .02. I've gotten a little burned out on ww'ing lately too. Well, I won't call it burned out, but it is now extrememly difficult for me to do it. I've been working on a nightstand for two months now. All of my tools are in the warehouse at the job I was laid off from three weeks ago. Along with being laid off comes not having a key to the building. So I can only be there when one of the two remaining people are there, whenever our schedules happen to coincide. So for the last three weeks, I've put in about 6 hours of work on the nightstand, in little increments. I glued the sides up on Monday and they are still laying in the floor in clamps.

Between looking for a job, working my part-time job, making some long-overdue lifestyle changes and getting to know a new woman, I don't have time for anything. Everytime I walk into the old warehouse at my former place of employment, I have to sit there and look at the plans and wonder what the last thing I did was and what I have to do next. All in all, it is still very enjoyable. I'm thankful for the little bit of time that I get to spend making sawdust and being on here. However, when little things like "food" become an issue, I tend to let my hobbies go for a while.

I don't think what I wrote here really has much to do with your predicament. It is probably more like the opposite end of the spectrum. But I can relate to what you're going through. I reached that point with surfing during the winter. There would be waves and I didn't even care. It really scared me because I LOVE to surf. At that point, I just concentrated on woodworking and golf and a month or so later, I couldn't wait to start surfing again (mainly because of golf). Just relax and do what you want to do for a while. I bet you'll be making sawdust again in no time.

Trent

[Bob Buchholz]

I sometimes feel the same way and have found that it is usually during period when I am working on things that are not challenging or that I have done many times before (like kitchen cabinets or bookcases).

Get yourself a beer or six, go out to the shop, turn on the radio and start cleaning up. Before you know it you will be sharpening chisels, organizing screws and fasteners, reorganizing the sandpaper supply and finding other productive ways to waste time. When it gets really bad, pull up a chair and dig out the old woodworking magazines and go through the tricks and tips sections. I find that there are actually hundreds of little projects that I meant to do when I read them but never got around to. These little projects are quick, easy and bring back that feeling of accomplishment which is why I enjoy WWing in the first place.

Before long, you will have a clean shop, a bunch of little improvements and an empty refrigerator and hopefully the desire to get back into something that takes a commitment again.

Best of luck and keep your chin up!