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When to let go

Now that the hobby dungeon (my basement) is officially open for business again, I find my mind being pulled in so many directions. After Mike's excellent post on his blog In the Obelisks Shadow about hobby burnout, I'm doing a little bit of reflection about my current projects and my own burnout.

I started the Karthlands campaign as something to keep my mind busy while I was moving. I had no access to models and paints, but I needed to keep the creativity alive or I would have gone mad. So for me, that led to making plans. I fleshed out a world and factions, I made a map and I prepared to tell stories there. It occupied a big space in my mind, and I was constantly looking for ideas and inspiration.

Once I got set up in my space, I got right into it and started playing my first Karthlands battle reports. I've done a few now and they have already coloured in big sections of the world for me. But here is where the trouble begins. Now that I have my space back, I want to work on other games too...

This is a great problem to have! I'm feeling very creative and I'm having fun making stuff again. But it leaves less time for the project I invested my time into, and I risk abandoning that project altogether. I think for many of us, this hobby is ADHD incarnate. Staying nailed down on a particular facet is nearly impossible with so much exciting stuff happening around us. Mike rightly mentioned in his post that all the community events can take a toll on your attention (others have been far less kind, and have attacked all of the community engagement - which I think is a way less defensible position).

But this leaves us with two choices. I think for many of us, the desire is to clutch at everything and be totally involved. However, we can only choose to make an effort, or let it go. We can't make an effort at every project, and making an effort doesn't even mean completing it. I think we all need to be flexing our "let it go" muscles a bit more. My default is now to watch most community events from the sidelines, cheering others on. The Simpso Blender Bracket (or whatever it's called!) looks like a ton of fun, but I didn't have the time to get involved - so I'm patiently awaiting the results as I watch all the new models get mailed to Tanner.

This brings me back to Karthlands - what am I to do with my little project? Make an effort, or let go? I guess only time will tell. It's really hard to hold on to a large project like this - especially alone. This isn't something that a whole community is rallied around, stoking the hype fire. This is just me in a quiet room after work, trying to find the motivation to be a bit creative. I've got a few more stories lined up though (people seem like my creepy vampire lady), and maybe in telling those stories I will find the fire to keep going, or maybe at some point I'll just let it go. 

 



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