What to do when you lose your (musical) passion?

[7stringDemon]

Hey guys.

I've been having a problem for the last couple years and with my new job, it's gotten so much worse.

I have lost my passion to play guitar.

See, my family has had it rough these passed couple years so I've had to work job after job to help pay the bills. No big deal. We all have to work. That's not the issue. The issue is that my family has become very dependent on me (again, I know, get used to it. That's life) and over the course of time, it has become a huge burden. To keep it short, I was always just a little tired and procrastinated playing my guitar. "You'll have more time tomorrow, just sleep now" I'd tell myself. But tomorrow would come and I'd just do it again. And again. And again. It was to the point where I'd only play a few times a week.

NOW, however, it has gotten even worse. At my new job, I get good living wages, plenty of OT, full benifits, the works. Sounds great, right? No. I get fu*ked with. All day. By my co-workers and bosses alike. They bitch about me, talk behind my back, crack jokes at me, steal my shit, and just generally never give me any peace. I'm usually a VERY thick skinned guy but when it's 10 hours a day for 5 days a week, it starts to get to you. And now I come out of work angry every day (REAL anger. Not the kind you can put into music) and I'm tired and depressed on top of it. So I pushed my music away. I don't even listen to it on my hour drive to/from work anymore. I don't play my guitars more than twice a week, I NEVER progress as a musician, and I never want to help my band write.

How do I make this stop? I LOVE guitar! I think about it all day long. I used to spec out customs in my head to relieve stress and make me feel more comfortable. It's not just a hobby for me. It's everything I am inside and out. A proud Death Metal guitarist with a really tight rhythm and some leads to back it.

Yet still, the fire is nearly gone. I still love it just as much, but I never actually want to DO it.

So please, magical feels gurus of SSO, help me! I want this plague to end but I just don't know how to end it.

Sorry if none of that made sense. I didn't put any thought into it. I just typed how I felt.

Thanks guys.

 

[Baelzebeard]

You probably need to get your work life straightened out before it will get better. WTF is up with getting harassed at work all the time.

Its been good for me to have someone to b.s. with daily about music/guitar too.

Hobbies like music pursuits have been an extension of my personal life, and personal troubles have always negatively effected my extracurricular pursuits.

I hope you can get things sorted out.

 

[BaDaML]

You need to play just for the fun of it. I was in a similar pit, a little depressed, just wasn't fun to play anymore. When I did play, it was the same stuff I always played, very uninspiring to me, which just compounded the problem.

I got a little Korg Pandora, which allowed me to play whenever I wanted without disturbing anyone, and without anyone hearing me (cause sometimes we all play really silly stuff lol).

I decided to just play whatever, because I love the sound of the guitar. So I played whatever, stuff outside metal and rock. Some pop, blues, classical, funk, jazz and country. I like 80's stuff too, so I would put that on and just play along or improvise over top of it.

I started enjoying playing again, and looked forward to my time alone to just relax and have fun creating sounds. Now, I am more into it than ever, and am probably the best I have ever been. My enthusiasm has inspired a few that were getting the blahs as well lol.

 

[Bevo]

Work is tough and its affecting everything and until that is sorted out your situation will not change. Go to HR or the union rep or the big boss and discuss with them, your better off doing everything to fix instead of quit.

Your desire to play is based on your headspace, depression comes out that way you just want to do nothing.
Another thing to keep in mind is music passion, is just that a passion not a need or want but something in the soul. This won't go away but it will get get held back by external influences like life.

Stay strong brother, it will get better!!

 

[will_shred]

Does your place of work have an HR department...? That's ....ed up man


I could never stand to have people dependant on me... I'm not that dependable in the first place. Which is why I could never have a family.

 

[Kaickul]

Exercise is the best way to get out of depression, it's what I did and now I love playing more and just got the band back together, feels really good.

 

[Winspear]

You definitely need to sort the job out

But, forgetting that - don't let it get you down if you don't feel inspired. Things come and go. I had several years like this where I rarely bothered to pick up a guitar, then one day I found new music that inspired me and I was back to music all day every day, instantly ditching all of my other hobbies. Just take it easy and take it how it comes. But yeah, nothing is going to get better until you sort out the work issues.

+1 on the exercise

 

[MikeH]

I'd definitely contact some of the higher-ups at your company. That shit is totally uncalled for, and you don't need to deal with that. I'd go to the fullest extent with punishing them as well. Bullying like that really gets under my skin. Secondly, as people have suggested exercise, also try meditation. I meditate a few times a week for a half hour to an hour. I listen to very soft music with very little going on in it. Mostly ambient stuff. Then I just pretty much try to realign everything that's going wrong into positive energy and figure out ways to push through it all. After you get those things sorted out, I think your love of playing will come back to you naturally. Sometimes with my band, I get too involved and sort of burn myself out on playing, so I take a break and listen to non-metal music (like alternative, acoustic, and electronic stuff like MGMT and Capital Cities). Eventually it all comes back around and I get into fits where all I want to do is play. So what it all comes down to for me is that, once you sort out the negatives in your life, the creative juices will start flowing again and you'll feel the desire to pick up your guitar more often.

 

[BryGuy]

It's all about perspective. I was in the same boat awhile ago, I took three days off for a Father John Misty show in Detroit and relaxed a bit. When I got back to work I ended up approaching my boss and making fun of him along with myself. No one bothers me anymore at my job because they can tell I don't actually take any of them seriously unless it's about our current project or our normal work.

EDIT: Also, in the past ten years I have never taken a day off of work up until a few months ago. I'm glad I took time off because I was one day away from throwing a W in my bosses face and yelling "WUTANG AIN'T NOTHIN TO F*CK WITH" as I stormed out. If you're stressed take a couple days off and work on making YOU happy. :] Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to strangle inspiration out of thin air, try to find some new music or try and find some new chords to muck with.