Why You Lost Your Passion And How To Recover It

Do you remember how it felt when you first discovered your creative passion? Maybe it was drawing, painting, music, writing, or dance. You weren’t even any good at it at first, but you kept coming back for more. You probably even lost sleep over it thinking about what you wanted to do as soon as you got up. You dreamed of the day when you could successfully render your imagination on canvas, or become as good of an artist as someone you admire. Then, as time passes, a pile or work-in-progress are quietly accumulating dust in the corner, and you just can’t find the motivation to complete anything you started. You feel frustrated instead of inspired. Maybe you are now making money from commissions and freelance work. But you feel like you’re just working out of obligation for someone else, instead of creating with passion and love and making work for yourself.

You’ve lost your passion for what you once loved.

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Why did you lose your passion?

Here’s the good news: passion is not an elusive myth that’s out of your control.

If you don’t feel passionate about your art anymore, the only reason is because what you THINK about it has changed.

• Where you used to think, “Wow, look what I can do!”
• You now think, “I can never be good enough.”

and…

• Where you used to think, “This is so much fun.”
• You now think, “I still haven’t found my style and I don’t know what I’m doing.”

and…

• Where you used to think, “I can’t wait to work on this piece tomorrow.”
• You now think, “This is not gonna work. Why even bother?”

and…

• Where you used to think, “I can’t believe someone just paid $100 for my art.”
• You now think, “I spend all my time making art for other people and never have time to make art for myself.”

and…

• Where you used to think, “I’ve discovered my passion and purpose. This is what I was born to do!”
• You now think, “I don’t love it, but I’ll show up because I’ve got the world on my shoulders.”

The list can go on and on.

What you think determines how you feel. 

If you aren’t feeling passionate about your art, take the time to examine your own thoughts.

How to recover your passion

Good news:

You can generate passion with the power of your mind!

And here are some thoughts for you to try out:

When your schedule is filled with commissions and freelance work,

• instead of thinking, “I never get to make art just for myself.”
• choose to think, “I get to touch so many people’s lives with my creation”.

When you’re supporting your family with your art business,

• instead of thinking, “I’m carrying the world on my shoulders.”
• choose to think, “I’m so grateful that so many people pay me for my creativity.”

When you don’t feel motivated to finish what you started,

• instead of thinking, “I can’t be bothered anymore.”
• choose to think, “I wonder what problems I can spot and how I can solve them. I love solving creative problems!”

If you want to figure out your style,

• insead of thinking, “There’s nothing special about me or my work.”
• choose to think, “The deeper I discover about myself, the more my unique style will emerge.”

At any point you find yourself comparing your work with others,

• instead of thinking, “I’m not good enough. I’ll never be good enough.”
• choose to think, “I have good tastes and I’m taking my art to new heights.”

Find out what your unconscious thoughts are, and gently redirect your mind to practice thinking more empowering and helpful thoughts.

Bring Passion Back into Your Work

If you’ve chosen the path of creativity, take the self-responsibility to generate passion for the choice you made. Like developing artistic skills, intentionally generating passion for your work requires regular practice. Like kindling a fire, your passion needs continuous nurturing. If you neglect it, it will burn out.

Every thought you have about your art is like a small piece of wood, or a damp patch of mud. It keeps your fire going or puts it out.

So are you adding wood or mud to your passion? And imagine what would be possible if you bring back passion into your work?