Photo Credit: "Sad Man Holding Pillow" by Hang_In_There on Flickr.
I have a confession to make: I’ve been in a major genealogy slump for the last two months.
Generally, when my non-genealogy life becomes too crazy and stressful, my genealogy life suffers. The more stressful my non-genealogy life is, the more cloudy my brain becomes and it isn’t long before I can’t focus or get easily distracted. It isn’t long before my genealogy begins to suffer.
Once you are in that place of “blah”, it can be so hard to get out of it. I started watching all my genealogy friends and feeling envious – popping out blog posts left and right, making new discoveries, and enjoying new tech toys while I was stuck in “blah-land”.
But I’m here to say there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope. There is a way out of “blah-land”. So what is the secret?
Find Inspiration
How do you find inspiration? Different things work for different people, but here is a list to get you started:
- Watch Who Do You Think You Are
- Watch The Generations Project
- Attend a genealogy society meeting
- Attend a genealogy lecture
- Attend a genealogy conference/seminar/event-of-some-kind
- Read a genealogy blog you love
- Find a new genealogy blog to read
- Read any genealogy blog
- Listen to The Genealogy Gems Podcast (How can you NOT feel inspired by Lisa Louise Cooke – she is just so bubbly and happy! It is like listening to your own personal cheerleader)
- Listen to The Genealogy Guys Podcast (George G. Morgan and Drew Smith and sometimes, a cat sidekick. Need I say more?)
- Listen to The Family Tree Magazine Podcast (Hosted by Lisa Louise Cooke).
- Watch genealogy videos on Youtube
- Try a new library or archive
- Listen to Geneabloggers Radio (Good hosts + Good Guests + Crazy Chatroom = one fun night)
- Try a new genealogy website
- Chat with a genealogy friend
- Buy a new tech toy
- And the list goes on…
What got me inspired? Last week’s Who Do You Think You Are episode with Reba. I already love her and add the fact that her journey included the story of her ancestor coming to American Colonies as a child and I am hooked (again).
Add a dash of Caroline Pointer’s post, Problems with Evernote and Genealogy?, a conversation with my dad about the 1940 census that didn’t end in eye rolls, and a pinch of Ben & Jerry’s binges while blasting Adele music and I’m feeling back to my usual genealogy enthusiastic self.
Have you ever had a genealogy slump before? How did you get out of it? What inspires you?