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Hey all

Been having a problem on and off for a while now. I start wanting to paint something, and then "health issues" prevent me from doing it.

Example, this week the plan is to meet up with my regular gaming buddy on Saturday and play 40k. I have 5 Deathwing Terminators I'd like to paint ready for that game. However since Saturday just gone I've been struggling to sleep at night, and consequently have gone from sleeping at night, to being awake all night, falling asleep early morning (this morning it was around 08:00 to 09:00), waking mid-late afternoon (today 14:30), and not feeling capable of painting anything. It's now Wednesday and I'm currently not even sure I'm going to be awake on Saturday during the day to be able to visit my gaming buddy.

Been to the GP about it, but nothing they've tried so far has helped.

How do you guys deal with such "life issues" impacting on your modelling and gaming?

Thanks in advance.

I mean if your health is suffering then it will affect any hobby you do and sometimes pushing through just to hobby can only result in pain/frustration and no reward for you and even more annoyance.

If your health is at a point where it is causing you problems to hobby you need to fix/resolve/mitigate that issue or shift to a hobby that is within the bounds of your medical issues - even if just for the short term.



That said if you are managing to sleep during the day you could have just had something off that has caused you to mess with your internal time clock and sleep patter and now you're all out of sync. You could try sleeping later and later and eventually you'll be back toward normal - I'm guessing you're off-work or otherwise not required during the day for things since you mention sleeping form 9am to 2pm.


Really how people deal will depend on what is wrong with them and how badly etc.... Some will muscle through; some will adapt some will change hobbies; some will avoid the hobby until they are cured etc... It really all depends on the personal situation .

I don't know if that fits for your situation, but I also find myself sometimes getting life in the way of the hobby. Luckily not because of health issues, but other reasons that suddenly change "~ 1-2 hours each day" into "maybe 15 minutes a week". It happens. I personally find it important to still use those 15 minutes anyway. It may feel like an eternity, but as long as something goes forward, the projects still go on. Even if I only paint a bagpack or two in a whole week.
And this way, I'm much more motivated to jump right in as soon as I have a bit more time again.

I asked some of our group if instead of gaming, we could all paint. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot by painting in a social setting a few times.

Might not apply here though.

Insomnia is nasty - especially when you have a 9-5 shift ahead and you've not even had an hours sleep...

Been there, done that and its horrible. Seriously, I nearly collasped at work one time and my friends were doping me up on caffine to stay awake! When I was dreading not getting enough sleep I came across Steve Pavlina's blog on "how to become an early riser." Here is a link, pa-chow...

https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/

The trick is to go to bed when you feel sleepy and have your alarm clock get you up at the same time, every morning. It will take a few nights but it will work.

Here was my routine...

11: 50pm - switch off the computer, make sure the house is locked, lights and switches are off. Brush teeth and chill out in bed, flick through a white dwarf or maybe swoon over my titanicus maniple or Harlequin patrol...but then finish by reading a page or two of the novel which is sitting on my bed side table...

Alarm clock is set for roughly 7:30 am, and it goes in the top drawer of the bed side table so I don't hear it ticking away all night. Its a noisey sod so I'll still hear it when it goes off. I do this first thing when I retire to the bedroom, so I dont have to look at the time again when I switch the light out. I could be sitting there reading for a good hour or only 10 minutes, but its at this point where I no longer worry what the time is because chilling out is far more beneficial than keep staring at the clock thinking "Oh no! I needed to switch the light off five minutes ago! I'm doomed!"

Oh, I stop eating at 10pm and will casually sip water until 11:50pm( I'm doing it right now ). Dehydration can sometimes wake you up not long after falling asleep and its hard to get back off until you are sufficiently hydrated, which can sometimes take hours. You might wake up during the night to urinate but at least in this case you'll be hydrated and can return to bed with confidence.

Its important to give your body enough to hydrate - gulping down two glasses of water before leaping into bed is instead more likely to flush your system out and you will have a very hard time getting off to sleep. If you wake up dehydrated, give yourself the best part of an hour to hydrate slowly and you should be alright.

Right, its now 10:30pm, and I'm going to chill out with some fun stuff...usually clips of Eda The Owl Lady being her comical self or maybe an episode of The Green Hornet...or perhaps remind myself of what the greatest thing about Heroquest was...but regardless its going to be fun before I do retire!

Let us know how you are getting on.

I can identify with the sleep issues, life problems for the last few months have made a mess of my ability to get a good night's sleep. Because of sleep apnea, I have to use a CPAP machine to get good sleep; nodding off for a nap without it just leaves me more tired when I wake up later.

As to painting, a painting night with friends - or while watching movies or listening to a book or music helps to get me into the mood to paint.

Finally, if life is getting in the way too much, there's always the option to farm out the painting - pay/bribe someone else to do it for you so you can focus your efforts on other areas that you enjoy more, like actually gaming!