Feeling unmotivated, Time to take a break?

[fridoliina]

Hello everyone!

Lately i have been feeling quit unmotivated when it comes to magic and actually a bit tired of it both when it comes to creating, practicing and performing. I just dont get any excitment from it anymore at all. I would like to hear if someone have gone through the same thing sometime during their long or short career in magic.?

Whenever i used to get new material or a new book i used to get really excited about it, watched it or read it whenever i could and loved to practice the material and could not wait to go out and performe it. Now i just cant seem to bother.

I got two great magic books a few days ago and i KNOW that they are AMAZING but when im going through them all i can think is "Oh thas probably great but i just cant bother and get the motivation to practice them, ill check them out later" and puts the book away.

Same thing when it comes to performing magic. I get asked to performe all the time and i will usually do when i get asked because i dont want to disappoint anyone. But when i do i just cant seem to get the energy you need to pull off a great performance so i just end up doing something easy that does not really take much effort to pull off just to show them something and just to get done with them asking.

Have anyone been through something like this?

Could it be good idea to take a break? Just put the books and cards away for a few weeks and dont touch them for a few weeks and dont think about magic at all? Doing other things you enjoy?

Have anyone done this?

Its pretty sad because i really love magic and always has.

 

[i.am.infamous]

I've gone through this before, a few times - I think it's more about taking a break, rather than thinking you're losing your love for your art... in short, take a break.

 

[Luis Vega]

Well...It a common mistake to breath, eat,see and live magic everyday...specially begginers, since you can get tired of it pretty fast...

I recommend you to forget about magic some days, and enjoy another type of activity, don´t know, music, painting or maybe just get out a little bit and leave your deck at home...

don´t perform for this time and just relax...

 

[E/caulfield]

Sometimes I'll get frustrated with getting a move or a flourish down or just get bored with it for a (very) short bit. I usually take a break for a day or two, and watch someone that I aspire to be as good as or inspires me, and that motivates me to pick up my cards again.

Your case seems slightly mroe severe and you might want to take a longer break. But believe me, it'll be calling you back and you can only resist for so long...

 

[worldwideme]

i took an entire week of magic once. it helped. then a little 6/7 year old girl with no front teeth was eating a poptart one day at my school (no idea why she was there) and i did a simple french drop coin vanish and pulled it from her ear. that was what drew me back into magic.

 

[joshrobarts]

occasionally i feel a little melancholy. What i usually do is just take a less proactive approach. instead of searching out places to perform and trying to get out there i just relax and always feel better. I also find that when magic isn't doing it, just chilling out for a week and listening to my favorite music and just chill flourishing always gets me back in the mood. Then ill mess up a flourish discover a concept i wanna play with and be right back in the mix.

 

[MrMystoris]

I've been through this numerous times. I'm a perfectionist and constantly push myself to be the best, or at least my best. I used to eat, breathe, and sleep magic for two years straight. It drains you out just like any other job or career or hobby. So I thought I didn't love magic anymore but in reality my body and mind were just tired. Since I was feeling exactly like you are I ended up taking four months off and this wasn't until my 7th year of performing (I've been performing for 10 years).

This really helped but I would still feel that boredom with it. So I would start learning a different genre of magic. If you mainly do cards, try some mentalism. If you mainly do mentalism try stuff with cards, etc. Or instead of learning new tricks all the time, focus on the ones you do know and fine-tune them and make a routine out of them. Focus on the patter of the routine instead of the tricks themselves. That helped me A LOT. That way you get more excited about what you're saying and doing that the magic trick. Once you know the trick that's it but to put your creative thought behind how to present that trick or tricks then it becomes exciting.

In conclusion, take a break and come back. If you're still bored then study a different type of magic, if that still bores you then pick the tricks you know and develop a good solid routine with patter.

I hope this helps. I'm not sure your length of time with magic or age but I'm 21 and have been doing magic for 10 years and this has helped me a lot. But just remember that with any job you do need to take mini-vacations from it throughout the year. For example, David Copperfield does 600+ shows a year and when I saw him perform and got to go on stage with him I could tell he was "bored" and how much of a toll it's taking on him.