Hey guys,
I guess this might be a symptom of growing older (but I'm only 25!), but I feel like I'm to tired for this hobby sometimes. I work most of the day, but I feel so brain dead when I get home, that its almost embarrassing. A lot of the time, I won't even want to work on a model, not just because I'm tired, but because I know I don't have the mental coherence to build it without messing up somehow.
I also feel like I need to devote more time to the people around me, which is fine, but I feel that my layout and my modeling suffers. I find myself more and more relying on RTR equipment, and my stacks of kits and projects continue to grow, while I never really seem to finish anything.
It feels almost as if I've taken a step back. I was looking over my projects from a few years ago, and they were so cool! I was super detailing engines, weathering things, putting the details down, and a lot of my track was ballasted. Now I feel like half of what I do is just maintenance, almost the bare minimum. My layout looks terrible! I'm not sure I'm proud or happy with my modelling anymore. I just painted a few projects, and it felt nice to actually get somewhere!
That isn't to say that I want to get out of the hobby, but I just don't know how to get back into the swing of doing things with it. I suppose I feel somewhat paralyzed.
Any advice for getting back to it?
Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:.... It feels almost as if I've taken a step back ....
Not at all. You are doing huge steps in your education, profession, partnership and may be soon as a father. You are doing very well and you adjusted the balance because you learned what real life is and what a hobby is. Absolut no reason to worry.
ps. Retirement is the right time to rethink the priorities again
Chris, please keep in mind this is your hobby, not your job. If you think of it as something you have to do it will become unpaid work and all enjoyment will be lost. Work at a hobby in your leisure time only.
Even when something about the hobby is a priority, it does not have to be done. You are the taskmaster so act accordingly. You may actually find you have more time for the hobby without putting anything else aside.
We have all been in your shoes.
Charlie
I don't make time for it. If after I do everything else there is time leftover for trains fine, if not oh well, maybe better luck next week or month or...................
GEC, my memory may be screwed up, but I was thinking at one time you said you had a model of the B-47. That was the hot bomber of 1951. If my memory is correct, what are you doing with a B-47 model if you are only 25 now? In 1953-55 I helped teach instrument flying to B-47 pilots. I ran across a picture from the McConnell AFB paper of a model I had built of the flight simulator we used for instrument flying. I think I was 24 or 25 at the time. Ahhh, memories.
Lynn
A few guys I know put aside a specific time to model, like a Thursday night or something. Others invite friends over so as to feel a little pressure to show some progress. Not sure I like the second, but I know a guy who got his whole layout built in a year because he kept inviting people over.
Another strategy might be to keep a few projects on the go. Maybe a couple of small ones, like weathering, or assembling rolling stock. Maybe throw in a somewhat more complicated structure. Then you have something ready to go when you have 15 minutes, or a couple hours. No paralysis trying to decide what to do. Another friend has done this, and set himself up a modelling desk inside an old computer armoire near the TV room, instead of down in the basement.
Hope those suggestions help you. The most important thing to remember about the hobby is that it is not the most important thing. So sometimes you just have to take the ups and downs as Tyson suggests.
Andrew
I have to agree with what everyone has said so far. I feel I am in the same boat as you and I am 61, I have a wife three daughters and a small hobby farm but I find I do most of my modeling inbetween everything else. I grab a few minutes here and there and once in awhile I might get half of a Sat. or Sun. to model. I do what I can when I can and I still get enjoyment from it.
8-)
All really good advice so far, all I can add is that for some years my model railroading consisted of reading a few pages of a magazine before I fell asleep with the light still on.
Circumstances, priorities, and demands change over time,, this may sound like sacrilege but it is just a hobby, so don’t go beating yourself up, enjoy it when you can.
Cheers, the Bear.
I think everyone of us has had that, " I really want to work on the layout, but I'm just not up to it right now." moment.
Life usually dictates what happens. Work, kids, the "honeydo list". Someone told me once that you can't think about work all the time, the kids should be a priority and that "list" is more for weekends.
But there are those times when the kids are in bed, the list is shorter, and work should be the farthest thing from your mind. That's when you should have the "me time".
What I usually do, turn on the NASCAR race, or the football game, spread a project out on the coffee table and do a little modeling.
I find that is relaxing. But that's just me.
I also don't have any specific time to model I just go down to the layout room when I have time. I find that as time goes on I am using more RTR models but even that doesn't bother me anymore. A friend has set aside Wednesday nights to work on his layout and I will find the time to go over and help him or we just sit and talk which is still a good thing. Don't stress out over it GEC this hobby is supposed to be relaxing.
Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:Hey guys,
I guess this might be a symptom of growing older (but I'm only 25!), but I feel like I'm to tired for this hobby sometimes. I work most of the day, but I feel so brain dead when I get home, that its almost embarrassing. A lot of the time, I won't even want to work on a model, not just because I'm tired, but because I know I don't have the mental coherence to build it without messing up somehow.
I also feel like I need to devote more time to the people around me, which is fine, but I feel that my layout and my modeling suffers. I find myself more and more relying on RTR equipment, and my stacks of kits and projects continue to grow, while I never really seem to finish anything.
It feels almost as if I've taken a step back. I was looking over my projects from a few years ago, and they were so cool! I was super detailing engines, weathering things, putting the details down, and a lot of my track was ballasted. Now I feel like half of what I do is just maintenance, almost the bare minimum. My layout looks terrible! I'm not sure I'm proud or happy with my modelling anymore. I just painted a few projects, and it felt nice to actually get somewhere!
That isn't to say that I want to get out of the hobby, but I just don't know how to get back into the swing of doing things with it. I suppose I feel somewhat paralyzed.
Any advice for getting back to it?
Visualize the hobby time as relaxation and de-stressing.
My late wife and I had set "me time" that we enjoyed our hobbies and this resulted in a very happy marriage since we took time to relax and the kids had their pursuit like video games,home work and their "me times"..My daughter loved to read and my son was into Dungeons & Dragons with his friends on the weekends.
We had family time where we watch a movie or played board games.I don't think our marriage would had survived if we had clung to each other 24/7 since that wasn't our life style and we knew that before we married.
Short on time - change the scope of your modeling. Adjust same as you would with a reduced budget. So you can:
- choose smaller less involved projects rather than a big layout.
- projects where you can work just a few minutes at a time.
- projects that are small that you can take with you. Assemble a freight car kit in the hotel room on a business trip, or in front of the TV while you are watching a game.
- keep involved through literature/internet.
You pretty much answered yourself. You are getting burned out from working and can't do anything afterwards. It's not about your hobby or even what else you brought up not devoting more time around others.
Relook what's going on at your job.