I think I'm burned out

[rob_s]

Eventually everyone goes from Tigger, to Pooh, to Eeyore. Many people will make that cycle many times.

In shooting, they probably first start out as Piglet, now that I think about it.

If you get that reference, and understand what I mean, then you’ve probably been around a minute.

If you don’t, just wait. One day you’ll be a real boy too.

[Totem Polar]

Eventually everyone goes from Tigger, to Pooh, to Eeyore. Many people will make that cycle many times.

In shooting, they probably first start out as Piglet, now that I think about it.

If you get that reference, and understand what I mean, then you’ve probably been around a minute.

If you don’t, just wait. One day you’ll be a real boy too.

Just so long as we all make damn sure that our Christopher Robin doesn’t morph into Christopher Robin Williams as we get past 50. Straight up.

[Welder]

In the last few years I've been reminded in some of the worst possible ways about how short life is. That's one reason that I just can't rationalize doing what it takes to be the best at this or any sport. Winning isn't fun for me; the journey is. I enjoy the journey so much, actually, that if I never arrive, I won't care. Kinda like how the perfect deer hunt, to me, doesn't even really involve pulling a trigger. Just being out there in the woods with a rifle; that's enough. Shooting a deer just means extra work. Which is why I like groundhog hunting way better.

I think everybody wants to find meaning in life, and "meaning" means different things to different people. When I'm shooting, as mentioned by another poster it was never about shooting as good as the top guy, it was about shooting better than the guy that was a couple seconds faster than me. It was *that guy* who was fun to compete with. The top guys showed up, burned the stage down, and left. They didn't have much use for us normal guys and that's OK...I guess I just never was able to take it seriously enough. I'm a jokester, and if I'm not having fun at something, I'm not going to keep at it. Which is why I never dry-fire practiced a solid week in my life (go ahead, kick me out now) and, most likely, the reason I'll never break into the top 5.

I can tell you that I took a good, hard look in the mirror when I turned 40 and I didn't like a lot of what I saw. 22 years of being an adult with certain achievements which society would call success...but when boiled down, they meant zip. Bad decisions whose consequences I'll pay for the rest of my life in some way or another. But I have today. Maybe tomorrow, but maybe not. So do you. Louis L'Amour had a quote that went something like this (I'm remembering from long ago; forgive me that it isn't verbatim): "We each have the power to say, 'This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.' "

Priorities change as we age and (hopefully) gain wisdom. Today I can honestly say that the chasing of tenths of a second on anything related to a pistol seems like one of the absolute silliest wastes of time that there is. Some people will spend their lives chasing those same tenths, or hundredths. And that's fine. For them. I'll spend those same cumulative years of my life on something that *I* find worthwhile. I especially like the early-on mention of motorcycles in this thread.

Lastly, maybe somebody is wondering: Since ole Welder isn't really interested in shooting to his absolute best, why is he still here? I'll tell you why. Because this particular community is a whole heck of a lot more generally enlightened than any other online or in-the-flesh community that I've come across. Yeah, there's a few people here who I genuinely and honestly believe are actually idiots in the strictest sense of the word, but by and large we have the best and most intelligent group of people that I've ever seen assembled. And while I'm not a GM shooter *or* an Einstein, I do enjoy rubbing shoulders with those who are either / both AND are also decent human beings. While from time to time adding something I hope is of value.

Also, because LL hasn't kicked me out yet.

[Ed L]

I asked.

So if someone decides that they want to take a break from competing or shooting, are they no longer welcome on the forum?

JCN responded:

No, I’d expect people to try and talk them out of it or at least first probe how they could make it more fun rather than the immediate and prevailing sentiment to be “yeah bail, it won’t matter to your skills.”

Talk him out of it? It's not like we are a religious cult that he is thinking of leaving. It's not like he is dropping out of high school. The guy decided he doesn't enjoy competitive shooting any more. Why should anyone care if he choses to take as much time off as he wants or quit it permanently?

[revchuck38]

So much this:

Since ole Welder isn't really interested in shooting to his absolute best, why is he still here? I'll tell you why. Because this particular community is a whole heck of a lot more generally enlightened than any other online or in-the-flesh community that I've come across. Yeah, there's a few people here who I genuinely and honestly believe are actually idiots in the strictest sense of the word, but by and large we have the best and most intelligent group of people that I've ever seen assembled. And while I'm not a GM shooter *or* an Einstein, I do enjoy rubbing shoulders with those who are either / both AND are also decent human beings. While from time to time adding something I hope is of value.

We're ten pages into a strong, reasoned disagreement about a concept that's important to us. Nobody's pussyfooting around how they feel about it. And yet we've managed to remain respectful and open to each other. We could have been having this discussion a hundred years ago and while details may have been different, the manner in which we're discussing it wouldn't be. A hundred years ago, we'd be sitting around a table face-to-face. Now we're doing it asynchronously across two countries and maintaining the same level of respect and consideration for each other. That's a distressingly rare occurrence in this day and age, and a huge reason why I like this place so much.

In spite of the shit mods.

[JCN]

Eventually everyone goes from Tigger, to Pooh, to Eeyore. Many people will make that cycle many times.

I think that’s where we probably differ in philosophy.

I don’t feel like anyone ever has to be Eeyore.

I’ve been in a career with a high burnout rate for many years and I still love my job and look forward to going in the mornings.

I’ve been with my wife for 24 years and love her more every day.

I have the good fortune to know hundreds of happily married people in their 80s and 90s, some who have been married and in love for 60+ years.

And they are not and never have been Eeyore.

So I go by what has documented success by the SMEs to happy lives.

No Eeyore for me thanks.

[MGW]

@Casual Friday and @rob_s your posts about family, hobbies, and particularly investing all free time into the kids activities hits close to home. It was a big contributor to my recent divorce. The last 10 years of a 25 year marriage was only held together because our kids activities were able to distract us from addressing our own issues. What free time we did have was spent encouraging each other to pursue our own hobbies.

And now thinking this through I think it’s probably a huge contributing factor to my current lack of interest in shooting. It’s not like I’m doing nothing. I’m still doing Jits every week and I’ve added a running club that has me putting in 12-15 miles per week.

[MGW]

A true student of a pistol is like a true student of anything else, IMHO.

It doesn’t have to mean you physically do it.
It doesn’t mean you have to be good at it.
It doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of time doing it.

But a true student of anything would take the quest for knowledge as important regardless of the time they have to allot to it.

They’d never blow it off as unimportant, even if they choose to not spend time on it.

And being cynical and jaded isn’t compatible with that as it’s counter to everything that a student would hold important to that quest.

I’ll see myself off your lawn now.

Pistols, shooting, self defense…I’ve always been an enthusiast in those things. You could even call me a hobbiest. That doesn’t mean it consumes my every waking hour or even large amounts of my time. But my abilities and knowledge are what I would classify as better than average. I don’t say that to brag I’m just pointing out that student of the gun doesn’t have to be a full time job.

[JCN]

Pistols, shooting, self defense…I’ve always been an enthusiast in those things. You could even call me a hobbiest. That doesn’t mean it consumes my every waking hour or even large amounts of my time. But my abilities and knowledge are what I would classify as better than average. I don’t say that to brag I’m just pointing out that student of the gun doesn’t have to be a full time job.

That’s also my point. It’s a fallacy that you have to spend a lot of time to get very good at mechanics of pistol if you do it efficiently and thoughtfully.

I probably spend 20-30 min a day on pistol. That’s less time than I spent on high school band practicing. Full time job, married, spend a lot of time with my daughter.

I think it’s good that you’re spending time on other heathy hobbies and maybe shooting has run it’s course for you.

But if you could spend 20 min a day and get to GM within a year that might be super fun.

For a lot of people feeling like they HAVE to be all consumed to get to this level is what stops them before they start.

That’s why I was asking about WHAT was demotivating you from pistol.

IMO pistol is easier to do at a high level longer than running and jits. Obviously personal genetics and injuries notwithstanding.

Totally understandable if pistol has bad relationship associations and you want to just jettison the lot.

[Caballoflaco]

Since I haven’t been around competitive shooters in a while I haven’t had very many people ask me the best path to becoming a GM in USPSA or how to win the President’s 100 in NRA high power. However, I’ve been asked directly or indirectly by more than a few people about a good choice for a first pistol and gear for ccw or maybe a rifle for home defense or hunting etc.

I may not be the best technical shooter, but I will say that I have a pretty good bullshit detector. I can get a new shooter started with a strong emphasis on safety and responsibility, but beyond that I know my limits. I rely on this forum to give me good info on equipment and sources. One of the main reasons I’m here is to pass along the info that members who have more time and money to continue to try new equipment or train with different folks or regularly compete post.

I might not currently have the drive to spend an entire Saturday for a total of 4 minutes of shooting time, but I’m still passionate about fighting gun derp and improving the shooting community. I take being a responsible “Reference Librarian” of the shooting world as seriously as I ever took competition shooting.