burnout: causes and timeline

I guess a couple of lessons with no joy really wouldn't strike alarm bells for me ... some lessons are fun, some are work,, some are frustrating when things aren't working well, some are less productive because of other life stressors or injuries, some are a mix of these things, etc.

I consider that normal, it's all part of the journey. But that's me, things may be different for you. (And it's hard to tell from reading a description online whether this is a little blip or a sign of a bigger issue.)

Perhaps you may need to adjust your expectations a little bit, and find other things about dance that are worthwhile to you when you are having a rough day/week/whatever. Or perhaps it is time for a short break, or a change of pace to another dance or style for a bit as others have suggested.

I have had moments when I've said, hey, I do this for fun, and if it's not fun, something needs to change. And I've had other moments when I've accepted that it's not always going to be fun every minute, for a lot of different reasons relating to dance, as well as relating to whatever is going on in life outside of dance. Sometimes dance is a good escape from other stresses in life, other times it is just one more thing to stress about during a full week or month. Not sure which if any of these apply to you at the moment, just some things to think about.

Best wishes with it.
 
Haven't competed since Worlds in July 2015, haven't really danced regularly since December. Not really finding myself missing it much--so much time to do other things. I'm doing a fair bit of scrutineering, so I'm still around ballroom, just not dancing.
 
You say you loved competing in the past tense - does that mean you no longer enjoy competing? Or just that you don't have anything on the schedule to look forward to? If it's the former, are you able to pinpoint why it's lost its appeal?

I know for both my partner and myself (to a lesser extent) having a particular event to look forward to as a checkpoint motivates us to put in more effort on the journey. Maybe you'd feel less burnt out if you had something, even just a small-ish local comp or a modest showcase, to look forward to?

I don't know if this term's used outside of hiking / backpacking / climbing circles*, but for me competitive dance falls into the category of "Type II fun". For Type II fun, there's a lot of unpleasantness during the work / journey of it, but the end result and the reminiscing make it totally worth it. When I started, the whole journey was the pleasant and easy type of fun (called Type I in the same framework), but at some point it flipped to the point where improving required some serious *work* and it fell more into the Type II camp.

*I don't actually do any of those things, but I have several friends who are actively involved that introduced me to the term.
 
Joe said:
Haven't competed since Worlds in July 2015, haven't really danced regularly since December. Not really finding myself missing it much--so much time to do other things.
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Yeah, I would say take time off and consider the bolded part of Joe's post. Do you not find yourself missing it?
 
Joe said:
Haven't competed since Worlds in July 2015, haven't really danced regularly since December. Not really finding myself missing it much--so much time to do other things. I'm doing a fair bit of scrutineering, so I'm still around ballroom, just not dancing.
Click to expand...
Boy, I'd love to do that or invigilate or MC, but the barriers to entry seem on the high side.
 
Loki said:
Boy, I'd love to do that or invigilate or MC, but the barriers to entry seem on the high side.
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Invigilating, for sure--you gotta take all those technique tests. For scrutineering there's a test, but it's mostly about speed, not technical difficulty. The other barrier there is equipment. MCing is probably the easiest to get into. If you have any comps in your area I'd just ask the organizer if you can volunteer your time and shadow the MC, and maybe try it out, get a little experience that way.
 
An update- most of the funk seems to have lifted....from much soul searching, my conclusion was that other stress in my life contributed in a major way....as those issues resolve, the dissociation and loss of fun seem to be going away as well... I won't say I'm all over the burnout feelings but have a competition on the horizon and new choreo to work on and find myself looking forward to it. I'm feeling optimistic about having turned a bend in the road
 
He definitely has... as have I.

I just needed to share where my brain is at, because he's talking about next year's proposed competition calendar - including nationals and a comp in the States - and I'm all "what's the point". He now knows that my practice hours are a little down right now, and I'm spending a little more time doing gym/ballet/flexibility work while I wait for motivation to come back. He can't always tell what's going on in my head, and I often practice when the studio is closed, so unless I fill him in on these things, he has no way of adjusting his plan/expectations accordingly.
 
This thread is more than year old; any development since then? Is it possible to get back the lost joy of dancing, once you get to the sad realization "I don't care"? Taking a few weeks of breaks from dance lessons returns joy of life in general, but after a short while "what's the point" question returns. Should one forget about tens of thousands and hundreds of hours invested in this hobby that once filled life with a joy but now makes you depressed and switch to something else? The option of letting it go seems as sad as continuing paying and spending time for something that makes me unhappy.
 
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