So, you know how things just kinda slip away sometimes? Not like your keys or your phone, but bigger stuff. Like your… well, your groove. Your spark. That thing that made you, you. I had that happen. Lost my damn boogie, I did.
Used to be, I’d tinker all the time. Little projects, silly ideas, stuff that had no point other than the fun of making it. That was my happy place. My boogie. Then life, you know? Work got serious. Responsibilities piled up. Suddenly, the idea of firing up the old coding environment for fun felt like, well, more work. The spark just fizzled out. Went cold. It was like trying to dance with two left feet made of lead.
The Big Freeze
I remember this one time, I had a whole weekend free. Perfect, right? Old me would have been buzzing, ideas flying. New me? I just stared at the screen. Blank. Nothing. It was like my brain had packed its bags and gone on vacation without telling me. Frustrating doesn’t even begin to cover it. I felt like a fraud. Here I am, supposed to be this guy who loves this stuff, and I couldn’t even get started on a tiny, useless thing for myself. It was a real kick in the teeth, that feeling.
I’d see other folks, all excited about their little side hustles or creative bursts, and I’d just feel this pang of… well, jealousy, I guess. And a bit of sadness. Where’d my boogie go? Did it leave a note? Send a postcard? Nope. Just gone.
The Awkward Dance Back
Getting it back wasn’t some grand plan. It was more like… fumbling in the dark. A real awkward boogie, if you will. Here’s what I stumbled through:
- Tried forcing it. Big mistake. Sat down, told myself, “You WILL be creative. You WILL have fun.” Yeah, that worked about as well as telling a cat to fetch. Just more frustration.
- Looked at old projects. Thought maybe I could reignite something. Some of it was cringey, sure, but some of it… some of it reminded me of that feeling. A tiny flicker.
- Changed my environment. Literally. Took my laptop to a coffee shop, a park, anywhere but the same old desk where work happened. Sometimes, just a different view helped a tiny bit.
- Started ridiculously small. I mean, insultingly small. Like, “write a script that prints ‘hello, world’ in a funny way.” The goal wasn’t to build anything impressive, just to make the fingers move, to feel that tiny spark of creation without any pressure.
- Gave up on “useful.” This was a big one. My brain kept trying to make everything into something productive. Had to actively tell it to shut up. “This is pointless. And that’s the point.”
- Found some old tunes. Music, man. The stuff I used to listen to when I was in that creative zone years ago. Put on the headphones, cranked it up. It was like a cheat code to unlock old feelings.
It wasn’t a straight line. Some days, I’d feel a little something, then nothing again for a week. It was a real push and pull. A clumsy, hesitant dance. One step forward, two steps back, then a weird shuffle to the side.
The Boogie’s Back (Sort Of)
And then, one day, I was messing around with one of those super tiny, pointless ideas. And I just… lost track of time. Looked up, and a couple of hours had vanished. And I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t frustrated. I actually felt… good. That little hum, that little buzz, it was back. Faint, but it was there.
It’s not the same boogie as before. Can’t be. I’m not the same person. Life’s happened. But it’s a boogie. It’s mine. It’s less about frantic energy now, more about a quiet enjoyment, a little secret handshake with my own brain. And honestly? I think I appreciate this version more. It’s a boogie I had to fight for, had to coax out of hiding. And that makes it a bit more special.
So yeah, the lost get back boogie. It’s a real thing. It might be awkward, it might take time, you might look silly doing it. But man, when you find that rhythm again, even a little bit of it, it’s pretty darn good.
