Whether learning a new language, playing an instrument, or fine-tuning a skill, life has a way of pushing these things to the back burner. I’ve got a ton of varied interests—music, content creation, language learning—and they all compete with my number-one priorities: grad school and career advancement. Lately, those top priorities have demanded so much energy that my ukulele gathers dust, and my YouTube channel goes months on end without uploads.
Life & Other Priorities Can Get in the Way
School and career have been my main focus for good reason: if my grades fall, they don’t magically bounce back. If I fall behind at work, that directly affects my future. Meanwhile, if I don’t practice ukulele for a while, lose discipline on my diet, or skip uploading videos, there aren’t immediate consequences.
Sure, my music skills, health, or viewership may deteriorate, but I know I can recover them with a little persistence. That doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty, though. There’s a constant guilt that I’m neglecting something important, even when the rational part of my brain knows I’m doing what I have to do—but I also have to do the things I’m not doing to achieve my goals.
Guilt Doesn’t Help You Start Again
I’ve also realized something: guilt doesn’t do me any favors in actually starting again. The more guilty I feel about not practicing, the more I avoid the thing I’m neglecting. It’s a vicious cycle. I even touched on this in a “TikTok” (RIP, for 14 hours) video I made last week—shame and guilt are basically rocket fuel for procrastination.
They keep you stuck, thinking “I should be doing the thing” while you continue doing everything but that thing. By feeling so much guilt, the small, easy step you could do right now feels like a monumental undertaking.
A Clear Purpose “Why” Does Help
What does help is having a clear “why.” For example, practicing music might help you calm down after a stressful day, or maybe learning Japanese helps you prepare for a trip. If you want to make videos because you see yourself going full-time with content creation, that’s a powerful motivator.
On the flip side, when I tried learning Norwegian, I was mostly doing it because it was alleged to be an “easy” language, and it seemed fun. But outside of Norway, there wasn’t much real-world application for me, so I lost my “why” to keep going. Eventually, I just stopped practicing. Knowing your “why” keeps you from slipping into autopilot and forgetting about what you once enjoyed.
It’s Okay to Lose Interest in Something
If you find yourself purposeless and thinking about something you used to do… are you even still interested? Sometimes, you might look back on a hobby and realize you’re just not that into it anymore. And that’s okay! We often continue doing something out of a promise we made to ourselves in the past. It’s okay to lose interest in something you used to like—your past self was you, but your present self is you.
People grow and change. I studied Korean intensively before and during a trip to Seoul, but once I got home, I barely touched it (I can still sound out Hangul, though). Without a tangible purpose for using it—like gearing up for another trip—my interest fizzled, and I broke a commitment I made to myself in 2019 to get fluent. It’s healthy to let go of something if you’re not actively drawn to it. You might mourn that closed door, but you can’t do everything in this life.
Start With One Step
Of course, if there’s something you really want to pick up again, the best approach is to start small. Recently, I’ve been easing back into making videos, and if I’d set a massive goal from the get-go, I’m sure I’d still be procrastinating. Instead, I kept it simple: I wrote down a single video idea, then wrote a few more, and gave myself permission to do just that for the day.
The same goes for any skill. Pick up your ocarina and play one scale or one short song. Open Duolingo and do a single lesson (if you don’t want that bird to commit unspeakable atrocities against you). If that feels too big, just log in. The point is, you only have to take one step right now. Everything else is just a collection of those single steps. Once you see that it’s not so overwhelming, you’ll find it easier to do the next step, and the next, until you’re back in the groove—or until you realize you’re no longer interested, and that’s perfectly valid!
In the end, don’t let guilt hold you back from what you want to do. Know your “why,” be honest about where your interests lie, and take that first small step if your heart’s still in it. You’ll be surprised how something as simple as one Duolingo lesson or one video idea can help you rediscover—or gracefully retire—an old passion.
Andy Cormier 