Dead Inside

[sethp]

I'm just fucking Dead Inside. I don't have any motivation to write...WTF? I don't feel like working, I'm burned out on it. Every job I look at or career I look at looks like stupid boring shit. I think the two are related...motivation to write and motivation to work. I'm not lazy...I'm just dead inside. How do I get that motivation back?

 

[Sugary_Comfort]

I know exactly how you feel. I have yet to figure it all out, though.

But I will say you should look at all the different areas of your life because most likely the lack of motivation for writing and jobs is probably stemming from elsewhere. I've seen so many others go through this, too, and that's usually the case.

Sometimes I really want to write something, but then again I don't. I've looked up prompts when that happens. The least that comes out of it is a few paragraphs from whatever I was inspired by.

Maybe take some time for yourself and do something that makes you happy that doesn't have anything to do with writing. Refresh yourself.

 

[DeeZire]

Bring some food to your local Occupy Wall Street happening.

Volunteer at your local Food Bank. (Many low level criminals do their community service at food banks.)

Volunteer at the Humane Society. (Women who have a soft spot in their hearts for stray dogs sometimes also have a soft spot in their hearts for stray men.)

Volunteer at a senior citizens center and listen to the old farts tell their stories.

Go to a Sunday church service and as you peruse the crowd, try to imagine what sort of underwear the hot chicks are wearing.

Go to the gym or find a basketball hoop and shoot a few.

Go to an AA or NA meeting. (Talk about your low level criminals...)

Bring a case of beer to the nearest homeless camp, which could be under a bridge or in a dry river bed.

Pay a hooker ten bucks to tell you her story.

Pay a hooker $20 to accompany you to the mall.

Go hear some local live music. (Trust me, your presence will be appreciated.) If it's an all male band, request "Dog and Butterfly" by Heart. Then duck.

Bring a half pint of bourbon to a coffee place and get shit-faced, preferably on open mic night. Bring your poetry with you. And a beret.

Go to a Karaoke bar, wait till it closes and the employees have all left, and then burn it down.

All of these activities could provide you with characters and plot lines for future stories. Plus, they'll take you out of yourself and give you new insight on the world and the people who inhabit it.

Good luck.

 

[jomar]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/02/25/prozac10c.jpg

 

[PennLady]

I think DZ's right, and has some interesting suggestions. Shake up your routine as best you can, just get out and do something.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

I like DZ's suggestions, but when I'm depressed, I usually find the need to mourn something. A career that goes bust, a failed relationship, a lifestyle I thought I'd have... something set me off. Once I identify what this something is, I need to talk about it, cry about it, etc., and then make a plan to fix it with short, medium, and long-term goals.

And only then can I do weird stuff like what DZ suggested and move on to feel happy again, though personally, I dye my hair a new color and then go hiking.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I go with the flow, and understand that most sentiments and feelings and such dont stick around for long. That is, I make hay when the Sun shines, Nellie.

One of my tales ends with this observation, MAYBE ITS JUST ANOTHER DAY, OR I'M A DIFFERENT MAN, BUT THE FEELINGS THAT BROUGHT ME BACK TO THIS OLD HOUSE IN THE OLD GROVE ARE GONE, AND THE RIGHT FEELINGS ARENT SOMETHING YOU CAN WISH INTO BEING, OR EARN, OR COMMAND TO APPEAR.

 

[amicus]

Life is a journey. A journey in reality has hills and valley's. Ciimb a hill and there is another facing you. Smile...and decide the pace.

amicus...

 

[Dual_Triode]

Volunteer at your local Food Bank. (Many low level criminals do their community service at food banks.)

I totally agree. I volunteer at a local food bank; the service is very rewarding. Not so many criminals around, however. A lot of former middle-class families.

Bring a case of beer to the nearest homeless camp, which could be under a bridge or in a dry river bed.

I've actually done this. Don't let your guard down. I ended up getting a tattoo to hide the scar.

Go hear some local live music. (Trust me, your presence will be appreciated.) If it's an all male band, request "Dog and Butterfly" by Heart. Then duck.

This always puts me in a good mood. It also led to a story on Lit.

Cheers!

 

[Iamnotthe1]

When things seem tough for me I sometimes just stop and embrace it. You know take ownership of the moment and learn something from it. Mosey a bit and just accept that you lost it for a minute. Who ever said that we have to stay on top of the world all the time? Don't give up.

 

[Noira]

I hear you... I can't do it. I can't write anymore. At least it feels that way. I know it stems from deeper psychological issues or whatever and I'll get over it, hopefully very quickly because I'm doing NaNoWriMo and I just threw a gauntlet down for an absurd word goal. D:<

So uh, that's my advice. Sign up for NaNoWriMo. If the competition factor of being the badassiest writer in your group can't do it, and the insane goal of reaching 50k (OR MORE, in my case) in a month can't do it, and you can't muster up the will to fight yourself and EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS WRITING MORE FASTER THAN YOUUUUU well... y'know. It's probably more psychological than writer's block, and or you're not a competitive person like me who can't stand the idea of losing to myself, and even worse, to my REGION.

So yeah. Do something crazy to shake up your routine. You're only as dead as you let yourself be.

 

[D_Lynn]

Boredom

It sounds to me like you have a classic case of boredom. Your brain is not interested in the stimuli presented.

I've been thinking about this for the past two days and trying to remember what I've done to get over this. I'm sort of in a funk, myself at the moment so coming up with a solution is a bit of a stretch right now. But I do know exactly what you're feeling.

The last time it happened in work, I took on a little project of my own. Something that I'd been complaining about and thinking needed to change. So, I created a little slide deck presenting my solution. I didn't think it would be well-received, especially since it was not my place, not my job area. It wasn't at first. But it got some people thinking, and then acting, and before you know it, I had a project to work on that I believed in. I wasn't bored anymore.

Other times at work, it's just a matter of making myself get into it enough that it becomes interesting. And if I can't do that, I just get through the day and focus on doing things I like to do. But, in this case, when the boredom is all-encompassing, I have to look in new places. Follow rabbit holes I've never gone down before in order to snap my brain out of the boredom.

With writing, it's a bit different for me. I have to give myself permission to not write. Otherwise, the pressure weighs on me. I can't set deadlines or goals or I'll just add to the pressure and guilt. And, again, getting out of the house and away from my desk helps a great deal.

Go out and do something you don't ordinarily do. Give your brain some new stimuli. That's the best advice I have.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

It'll come back eventually, but I know it is frustrating. I'm in the middle of it now, and it's been a come and go kinda experience. Right now I have an idea, but not the hard core desire to put it down on paper.

 

[Handley_Page]

It'll come back eventually, but I know it is frustrating. I'm in the middle of it now, and it's been a come and go kinda experience. Right now I have an idea, but not the hard core desire to put it down on paper.

You & me both (although I have had a excuse this year).

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

You & me both (although I have had a excuse this year).

Well good luck to all of us that are in muse limbo.