talkmagic.co.uk

Where to start? It feels like i haven't been on here in over a year and its only been a month or so...

University has completely quelled my desire to perform and practice, i was in love with magic before and although i still am, its not the same. The depressing part is that i still really want to continue with it, deep down i cherish every moment i see or experience something magical, and im still doing my best to keep up with the community.

The thing is i've had the time, hell i may have a lot of work to do but i could fit in numerous hours of practice a day if i wanted to. My motivation has just completely vanished and yet i want it to come back - desperately. I still flourish with my cards daily but its not the same..

Im glad that i joined TalkMagic when i first began, as the community here is brill and all you guys are the reason im coming back here and not just giving up. But i ask that you can try and help me get over this little patch, because magic means a lot to me and its a wonderful thing, i just cant seem to get my brain in gear!

Any advice or inspiration will be gratefully accepted!

just take a break from it...nothing bad will happen, you won't die...

life will go on...

Well the problem is i have taken a break, i just cant get myself back in gear...

i meant that you shouldnt force it...do other things, you can't force inspiration or anything like that....

you'll either get that compulsion or you won't...thats what i meant by take a break, carry on doing other stuff...you'll wake up one day and suddenly grab that book or watch that dvd again and that'll be it...

don't pressure yourself....do it when you feel the urge....

we can't "make you get back in gear" as it were you've got to want to do it enough...

if something within you is holding you back from doing it, then listen to that "thing"; examine the "why" and think about it from that angle...

but i still say don't try and force it...just carry on with your life until you can no longer resist/or feel that urge again to go do something about it...

Thanks for the the advice IAIN. Didn't mean to shrug off your first comment with mine.

I suppose the more i try to motivate myself the further away it will put me. I'll try not to force it into my system

I feel i can relate to you here Steve.

I too started University in September, and have since found my interest in magic dwindling. Like you, i still have a deck of cards around me most of the time and i like to keep my hands busy with them, but I'm finding little to stimulate my interest in performing.

I can only put this down to the upheaval that is the start of Higher Education. I'm late to it, at 34 i guess I'm old enough to know better but, i always regretted not going to University and thanks to a redundancy i found myself in the position to be able to make up for that regret.

I had to relocate as well as begin University, and it all happened in the same week through no fault of my own. Perhaps, until things settle into a rhythm, there's a feeling of guilt there. That time spent learning or performing magic tricks is time away from the books and assignments.
I certainly feel this is a part of it for me. Because of my age i feel this is a do or die mission I'm on here. I can't afford to c**k it up and come back in a few years time.

Once things become as normal as normal can be, i think things will be different and i won't feel as bad dedicating time to something some might consider a waste of it.
If it doesn't change, like Iain says, nothing bad will happen. If anything i might get higher grades...

At least im not the only one!

I think your right as well, maybe once ive settled in to University more in a few months, ill suddenly get that urge to fit some practice in - i hope so at least.

Good luck with your course too.

I really wouldn't worry about it, Steve. We all have peaks and troughs, so to speak.

I was lucky enough to be in America this week attending an internal conference when the organisers got wind of my hobby and asked me to put on an evening show of mentalism along with a US-based colleague. We both worked really hard on putting together a show, with us both performing for around 35-40 minutes each.

The night was a great success but - guess what - after the elation subsided on Thursday night , I found myself with no desire to perform again this side of Christmas!

It'll come back, I promise!

Have you actually been out performing (assuming you do close up) since the drive dwindled?
In my non-magical life I have lost a lot of the drive to practice something because I simply haven't been doing it for real... but whenever I get back into it the drive and desire to train comes back with a vengeance.

Give it a shot... if you've not.

when I was your age I found the true answer to the question of life, the universe and everything - apparently it was beer and girls.

You are young. Enjoy life to the full and allow magic to find its own way back into your life.

Thanks for all the comments once again!

Big Shot, no i haven't, partially because before i lost motivation i was practicing hard, but still not ready (in my opinion) to perform regularly, and then since losing motivation, i just havent had the time, or the confidence to do so. I guess a lot of it is because im quite new to magic (5-6 months) and ive spent more time on flourishing in that period.

Im trying to still practice my basic tricks as much as my desire lets me, so i hope soon i can give performing another shot to boost my motivation!

It's annoyingly backwards, but I find that one of the best ways to gain in confidence is to do the thing you want confidence for. I'm not exactly brimming with confidence to perform things (magic or otherwise) but find that the more I perform the more my confidence grows.

If you've been practicing some basic tricks you've probably already got more than enough to impress. You don't need to be doing tricks with knuckle-breaking sleights in order to amaze people. Believe me when I say I'm no Paul Daniels (too tall, too young and, quite frankly, too c*** (not the best)) and after just a few weeks of practice (that was for a couple of hours each day) was able to leave people pretty speechless with some very basic tricks.

Take what you've got, turn it into a short routine - 2 or 3 tricks maybe - practice it a wee bit and then go and show someone.

Either it'll all go well and you'll get a confidence boost, or you'll screw something up which will motivate you to clean up that part and also show that it really isn't all that bad even when it does go wrong. If you've got a self working trick like Brainwave or InvisibleDeck keep that handy as your get-out-of-jail-free trick for if you lose a chosen card mid-trick. It's a pretty powerful effect and so does a wonderful job of covering your screw-up if need be.

Most of all though, just enjoy the rush that comes through performing.

You say you have no time. You're at Uni though, right? Waiting for a lecture to start show a friend a quick trick. Bring a deck out to the student union bar and show something there.

Give it a go and see if things improve any... you're obviously keen to get it back or I'm not sure why else you'd have posted this thread.