Historically... burning out?

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Agghhh....

I know that this is probably not the best place for this post. But I wanted to ask my historical brethren and seemed as good as any.

I feel I have been burning out lately. Not that I am tiring of the topic. I just need to take a sabbatical or something.

I know Black John knows what I am talking about....

Maybe its my "virtual" nature as a pirate. Stranded in the middle of Germany with practically no events to go to... and trying to be a father and husband all at the same time.....

Sheeeeshhh...

GoF

[blackjohn]

Yes, I know the feeling. How many times have you heard me say something along those lines...

Advice. Take some time off. A week. A month. Before long, you'll find that you miss this whole adventure. I hope.

This much I know. If you take time off, you will be missed. Greatly. You are a boon to our... culture. And many's the time a post of yours has given me cause to think!

[jim hawkins]

I'm burned out and I never even finished getting burned in.

[Iron Bess]

Aye....

Aside from real life taking its toll (as with you lads....) my JOB has helped me burn out on Piracy. How cruel it that? So MANY of us at the Studio that have been Pirate people for years( long before it became a fashion...) are now toasted on the subject... just from the stress of what we have been working on here.

While it sounds like a dream job to some to be working with the films of Pirate of the Caribbean, it’s OVERKILL! I never get away from it. Never. Up to my arse in Pirates during the weekday with work and then up to it again on the weekend with events and such like.

I am tired. (Sigh) And can see it only getting crazier after May 25th.

You have my sympathy and my understanding lads.

[Hawkyns]

do know what you mean. I spend a lot of time and effort making things right and sometimes, watching what other people get away with, I do feel more than a bit burned about why I spend so much time and effort to get things right. On the other hand, I can't just let go and play silly buggers with history. My solution has been to occasionally get involved with some larp/scifi/pseudo-reenactment of something entirely non historical. Since I read a lot of fantasy novels, there is a lot of scope. I was very interested in the Horseclans in the 80's, but the fan groups seem to have gone away. Things like Conan, Druss, and Gor are where I let the imagination go. I've been working on recreating some of the sort of kit from the art of Caldwell, Valejo and Bell, and recently, Royo. Besides, the eye candy of those genres is a lot better than slops and shirts.

I find I can wear the stuff at cons, some ren fairs, and even gatherings specific to the fan groups of the novels. It's a way to let go and have fun, without compromising my views on history. Unlike many here, I have little or no interest in space opera, so the Star Wars, Star Trek types don't hold my interest. I do have An la Shok kit from Bab-

5 and I've been looking at Serenity with interest. Ultimately, though, it comes down to my love afair with the blade. A blaster or disrupter can never have the beauty and allure of cold steel.

Hawkyns

[LadyBarbossa]

GoF...

Not really having pirate burnout... but having burnout on life...

Piracy or any other reenactment.. is just a fun little side thing. Something to relieve the stress of everyday freakin' life. It shouldn't been a chore. If it's become more a hampering and chore than something to relax and enjoy... aye... a sabbatical and time away is needed to help refresh. Even from here from time to time.

You have a family and a life to take care of... that should be your main priority, I hope. :)

Relax... enjoy time with your family... get back to the basics of life... and hope to see you 'round in the future if the Fates allow.

~Lady B

[lorien_stormfeather]

Aye, agree p'haps a fantasy persona is good fer what ails ye!

My "sea witch" has a tie-dyed linen chemise, seaweed hair and a lightup shipwreck (complete with Kraken) on her hat- not to mention a very scary trident.

She goes to SciFi Cons and the like, but has been knowne to threaten a bad pyrate (or faerie) or two.

Can't hardly take her seriously. Just fun.

[William Brand]

Unplug.

Go see some local oddity or curiousity you've heard about but never seen. Take the family and just go. Get away from us for awhile and stand under the sun. It is good to unplug. I spent a lot of time offline last week just spring cleaning around the house and sorting old pictures and looking up old friends.

It was refreshing.

[Salty]

from one burnout artist to any other, step back a bit and fynd something else to engage activity, even if it is spend tyme with family or go somewhere. If not time or coin to do that make a cup of favorite libation and read or write something for a spell. Cheers mate and godspeed on any side trip ye deem to take on. Slainte

[Rumba Rue]

Been there, done that, which is why I don't go to every friggin' event around.

I haven't been to a sci-fi con in almost two years now, I miss it, so I'm making a point this year to go to a few just for a change of scenery.

[Patrick Hand]

I was going to start working on my Buccaneer stuff again..... but just couldn't get modivated.... same thing when I tried to finish hand sewing a wool and linen waistcoat......... (just have the armseye, and ALL 14 buttonholes...)

Then I started listinig to a Serinity Podcast, and figured that might be a fun diversion for awhile...

Looked up some of the fan forums, and started reading them, got a copy of the movie, and am going to buy the tv series when I get some loot...

From the forums that I've read, some of the fans are as icky as some of the Startrek fans... "That's not cannon..." "they never did that...." When I was a Klingon, I made-up a lot of the history and culture the way I wanted it...(and no one tells a 6'3" Klingon that thiere stuff is wrong.....) I'm going to do the same with Browncoat stuff.... And, I don't have to worry if the fabric is Historicaly accurate or not....

I still wanna do some work on my Doglock.... but that's kinda a fun Winter project anyway....

I figgure it's just the Winter "Blaaahs..." come Spring, I'll get back into playing Pyrate.... (I'll still read this Forum, ) but I figure I'll take a mini-vacation, and play something else for awhile.........

[Capt. Sterling]

Step away and take that break... especially if you have young kids at home... you can always go back to being a pirate later but your wife and kid(s) are far more important and time missed with them because you're burned out is time you can never truly recapture... if the mood hits you in the future, pirates will still be there... take some time to do some special things with the family, it is the greatest pick-me-up of all

[JoshuaRed]

Funny thing that you posted this GOF...I have gone thru the very same thing for much of the past couple years. For me, I think it was a case of going so far down the rabbit hole that I found everything I was looking for, so in a sense, I was done. I spent so many years devouring & researching piratical history that I was finally able to grasp the big picture of how I feel it really must have been. At least grasp it at a level that sated my curiosity. I don't claim to be an expert, and there are PLENTY more here who will know more than I ever will. But compared to the average joe on the street, sure I'm a GAoP scholar.

And once that happened, I found my fever for this waned dramatically.

Sure I still love the POTC films, and I come here out of habit and loyalty to the friends I have here, but I honestly don't get consumed by this like I used to.

It was only last night when unpacking my boxes of pirate/colonial/maritime books (enough to fill two tall bookcases) that I suddenly got the urge to read them again.

I hope I can rekindle the fire for this, because I desperately want to delve into it all again. But like love, you can't just make it happen. Though when it does, my books are ready!

[HarborMaster]

My fun is not exactly historically accurate., its more like "I did it my way"., but I am as excited about things now as I ever was. It keeps getting deeper and I am having fun wallering in it. I am just begining a lifetime dream really.

I wish you well and hope youll feel refreshed after a time out as BlackJohn put it. Your knowledge and commitment has benefitted us all.

GoF Thank you sir.

[hurricane]

After 25 years of pirootin', I have seriously burned out twice, including a time when I got rid of everything I had having to do with pirates, including all my gear, my decor, my books - wow! But I kept coming back to it - truth be told I don't know how to be anything else. So I carry on. Grateful for the breaks as it gave me perspective and a chance to look at things anew after being consumed by the calling.

Don't feel bad - happens to all of us now and again. Enjoy the family before they grow up and go off on their own, discover other passions you may have forgotten about and have relax... it's all here waiting for you if you need it again.

-- Hurricane

[Pegleg Pete]

I feel I have been burning out lately.  Not that I am tiring of the topic.  I just need to take a sabbatical or something.

The feeling is totally mutual, GOF. I find myself burned out from many of my hobbies at this point. It sometimes seems difficult to step away, especially when folks are wanting to know your take on the situation. It's easier for us "lesser known" members to do so than it is for you. But, rest assured, you won't be forgotten, and you will be able to step in again at any point you feel is fitting.

Feel free to step away and get your affairs in order. The hobby will be around when you return, and people will be eager to hear what you have for input on the topic at hand. Everything discussed here is meant to be a hobby, or things to learn to further a person's understanding. If it gets to the point of taking over a majority of your life, it's time to step back and take care of what's REALLY important.

Take some time off and come back to a "family" that accepts you as their own. In the mean time, take care of your real family.

May the wind always be at your back, and we'll raise a pint to you on your return.

Enjoy some much needed time away.

If and when you are ready to dive back into it, there will be plenty of things to discuss and debate.

Have a good one....

See you at a later date.

Brad

AKA Pegleg Pete

[Red Cat Jenny]

GOF, you and so many here have worked so incredibly hard on this. It would stand to reason that like at any job or interest too much work makes Jacky a dull boy. It would be wierd if you didn't burn out now and then. Maybe it's the "working too hard"

maybe it's the winter blahs. (It's hard to pirate knee deep in snow)

Maybe readjusting the balance with other things will help.

I agree, take a vaca.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/t...e-mini-vacation

Much as I love my job and am like a kid in a candy store there, I could so use to sit on a beach under a palm tree away from everyone and everything familiar and just be. I doubt it wold be long before my mind wandered back to my interests tho.

There are more things in the world than there is time in anyones life to explore them, so give yourself permission to stretch. I always find you can't get away from things unless you..get away.

Me..I'm here! this is my escape. I am in with both feet and then some!

But you've been here longer. I hope you find something to extinguish your burnout, and I hope you'll find yer way back here.

[Jib]

GOF, Perhaps after a brief 'time away' from historical pirates you can return and share it with your kids. Seeing something from the eyes of a child may refresh you.

Good luck, enjoy your posts.

[capnwilliam]

Aye GOF: take that much-needed break. But don't give up forever!

Me, I come and go: have been inactive on this list for a few months, but am getting back into it. Like many of us, I just have TOO DAMN MUCH STUFF going on at the same time : my wife and stepdaughter, our dog and three cats, each of our jobs, our house, and now we've bought a second one and plan to keep the first: Baratarians, GAOP, Confederate privateers, cowboy action shooting, modern pistols, the gym, church: it's just overwhelming at times, and I feel bad because I'm so spread out that it's not a case of one thing being done wrong but me taking consolation that I'm doing something else right; instead it's that everything's being done wrong.

Well mate, there's only one solution for that kind of foolishness: you've just got to do less.

Now I have to figure out which of these activities I love that I'm going to cut back on!

Capt. William

[Sjöröveren]

Winter sort of forces us to take a break from reenactments up here in Minnesota. There's folks around here that do winter encampments, but they are pretty much exclusively buckskinner events, which I find tiresome in the extreme. Besides, I like my feet to be warm and dry, and I like to wake up without icicles on my nose.

True pirate events are non-existant here. The closest one is the Port Washington Pirate Fesival, which is well-worth the 5 hour drive for us.

So I have a ways to go before I'm burned out on pirates. I've burned out on other hobbies over the years. but this one has stayed with me for some time, and I've hoodwinked Red Bess and the kids into doing it, too. So I'm still having fun.

[blackjohn]

Why did God invent buccaneers? So we have something to study when we get burned out on pirates.

:)

[Patrick Hand]

Why did God invent buccaneers? So we have something to study when we get burned out on pirates.

Yah... but I do both periods...... just can't get modivated to work on them right now......

I don't think it's "burn out"..... as much as it is the season..... so I'm getting into playing something else for Winter, untill Spring and Summer, when there is enough Pyrate stuff going on......

[Longarm]

I think my burn-out is just the opposite of GOF and Capt.Grey, I'm to the point where if I can't find away to get more hands on and to more events I fill like giveing up. I read every book on piracy and sailing ships I can get. What I need now is a way to act on what I've read.

I want to improve my gear but I start feeling selfish knowing right now the money could go to a better cause. I want to get past the replica guns and invest in the real thing but , just reading about them does not make me comfortable enough to go out and buy one and then start handling it properly.

I've always learned best by watching something being done than just reading about it or being told what to do. So that's where I'm at. I've read the books, heard the storys, read the debates in the pub here, now I just got to find away to get my hands dirty.

[capnwilliam]

That's not burnout, Longarm, that's frustration over spending too much time in dock.

Capt. William

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Actually, Longarm, that is EXACTLY why I am burning out.

I have spent $1000's of dollars on clothes and weapons, and am stuck in the middle of Germany with not a lot to do.

There is a small and growing Pirate LARP movement in Germany, and I am not trying to diminish their efforts, but for me, to get to an event, it means either a flight to the UK or the States....

And with 2 kids under 5, its just about impossible to do.

When I am back in the states (usually for 4 weeks in summer) my time gets filled with Doctor/Dental appointments for the family and Visiting relations.

Telling the wife I am leaving her and the kids to go off and "play" for a weekend goes over like a fart in church.....

So.... here I sit, pouring over documents, sweating the details on hand sewn garments, and spending $$$ on kits items that, in all likelihood, will never get used (by me).

Its being a "virtual" pirate that is burning me out.

Greg aka GoF