[sdiy] I have come to accept, this is where it ends... sale.

[cheater00 .]

Benjamin,

On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 12:09 PM, Rutger Vlek <rutgervlek at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8 dec 2013, at 18:32, rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk wrote:
>
>>> ...except, that when the career came, after my days work I
>>> lost motivation to continue with my electronic projects at home.
>>
>> I can totally relate to that.  If i've spent a day debugging someone's software for them, then I don't feel like firing up the computer when I get home and spending more time looking at a screen and writing code.  Likewise with tasks like PCB tracking, parts kitting, soldering, etc.  If you spend your working day doing it to get paid, then what was an enjoyable hobby before can start to feel a little bit like just doing more work in the evenings!
>
> Very familiar indeed! During my PhD my mind was so saturated with work that I didn't enjoy many of my hobbies. Especially the more creative aspects, making decisions, etc were hard. Now the PhD is done hobbies are becoming more interesting again. Even to a degree that I'm considering to try and make a living out of it :).
>
> Rutger

Rutger's story made things click for me.

In my job, I do tech stuff. Things I really enjoy. Mostly computer
programming. However, during more intensive projects I can't lift a
finger at home to change one line of code. It gets really bad. What I
find, though, is that this time is not lost at all. Exactly the
opposite! After the projects are done, when I have free time and I've
had enough time to recover (usually a month or so), creativity is
great and ideas are better than ever before. I think this is because
the hard work you and I are doing not only exhausts us, but also
"builds up muscle". You gain knowledge, practical experience, and can
gather ideas. If you would like to spend this time that you work as an
EE still progressing synths as a hobby - what I'd do would be to start
gathering ideas and notes, without executing them. One day you'll have
a lot of that piled up, and will have the time to get to work. You'll
find you've built up a treasure trove of things to look back to! So
yeah, maybe sell your stuff, maybe don't. But do keep an eye out for
new ideas. Don't give up, it's going to come back one day - you're
just taking a long, long detour.

I think saying "always keep Ithaca in mind" really sums this up well.
I've found this poem to be fitting to this situation on many
occasions.

Cheers,
D.


--------------

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy