Dear Squee Vol. 12

Dear Squee,

I hope this finds you well.  It dawned on me about two months ago that I simply have no feeling for games anymore… most disappointingly, Magic. This is largely due to life in general impacting my passions.  MTG has been a strong passion for me for almost 15 years.  

I have decks that are currently half-built that I was excited to build one day, then…. nothing.  How does passion like that just disappear?  Have you ever gone through this?  Know anyone who has?  I don’t know how to get out of the funk… I even bought a few packs …. still nothing.  It can’t just be gone… right?  

What does one do when their passion just goes away?

Thank you for reading.  

To whom it may concern:

This has happened to me a few times over the years.  You are not alone here.  Life has a way of coming at you and catching you off guard.  When that happens some things need to give way for a while…. I did this with the very game of Magic 3 years ago due to a number of life events and stressors.  Perhaps my experience with music is more relevant since you have loved the game for so long.  

In my early twenties there was a stretch of years when I barely… if ever… played my guitar.  I was so involved with working and other distractions that I lost the spirit.  Guitar was something I used to spend hours a day on, and had played since grade school.  I loved it and still do, but at the time I was so busy trying to build up a career, keep up with friends, and travel that it slowly went to the wayside.  

A few years after I stopped, something clicked… and I started to play a few times a week.  Looking back I am realizing that it wasn’t a magical moment… My career had come to a point where I was able to work from home, I had recently purchased a house, and I had the time to really dive into my hobbies.  It was pretty clear to me, even though I had not played for a number of years, that the love for it was still there.  Life went in a direction that took me away from one of my favorite things, and it brought me back to it in full force.  

Fast forward 5 years and I have taken that hobby I love, and am turning it into a career… that led to building a studio, learning how to record, and loving every minute of the process.  The time I spent working to make more money and build a group of people that supported me was not wasted, it was necessary for me to build a foundation to then dive into my hobby the way that I have.  At the time I was not aware that focusing on those things subconsciously led me to love it more.  

Time:

Sometimes in life, you need to take a stepback and breathe. Things can get messy, events you would never expect can happen, and priorities can take up a large(but necessary) amount of time.  But the moral of the story above is that, while people need to adapt to things, passions tend to stick with them.  It may not come back immediately, but I feel confident that it will come back and stronger than ever.  

Don’t Force it:

I think it’s important not to force an interest in something. Having tried this before I found myself burning out even more.  At risk of being a writer for a cheesy RomCom…  if you love something set it free.  Every time I’ve stopped being involved in something I love doing, it has found its way back organically.  I don’t know a formula as to how it works, but so far, it seems to work.  

I am really happy you sent this question to me.  I think there are a lot of people in the community feeling what you are feeling including myself at times.  

These are very stressful times and there are so many changes going on… it’s important to take stock of this and stay up with everything. 

I hope this helps!

Love,

Squee

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