We’ve all been there. Gradually you become less and less motivated to go out and shoot or design, or write music, or poetry. Then one day you feel like the last thing you want to do is take photos, but you decide you’d push through it. And it only gets worse. Eventually you just stop.
There are many causes that can lead to a burnout, and it doesn’t only happen to creatives. Usually it has to do with stress and not having any boundaries or simply being a perfectionist. That can be caused by demanding or many clients for those doing it professionally. For those who don’t it can be way too high, unrealistic requirements to oneself. Creativity doesn’t work like a faucet, that’s why it’s a common understanding that it takes a full day to do 10 minutes of creative work. It shouldn’t be forced, it should only be guided.
Another very widely spread reason for burnout is not having any restrictions. While that is a bit counterintuitive, it makes a lot of sense. We simply need a goal to work on, if we don’t have it we can feel depressed or simply unmotivated.
Until now I’ve been burned out from photography just once. It happened 2 years ago when I was doing the 365 challenge. It was in May when I felt I was starting to seriously dislike photography. For the past couple of weeks, I remember it was getting harder and harder to get myself to head out and take photos and I started liking my work less and less. A mistake I made back then was to keep pushing, hoping I’d make it another 7 months which now seems plain stupid. What I should’ve done, that I did later on, was that I just needed a break. Take a couple of weeks away from photography. Eventually I didn’t take any photos for almost 6 months, I just couldn’t stand the thought of having to take photos. That’s where I was wrong. I didn’t have to take photos anymore. I only had to do it if I wanted to do.
Kommentarer