Matthew Turland

If you made it out to php|tek and saw my uncon session on web scraping, the slides have been posted. If you’d like to discuss the topic further, feel free to contact me. I love chatting about the subject with others.

I don’t generally use this blog to write about personal matters. However, I feel the need to clear the air a bit about something that’s been weighing on me lately. If you’re reading this, chances are that I’d like you’re advice about how to deal with this situation I’m in.

Those who know me are aware that I’d been working on a book up until recently. The manuscript for that book is now in the hands of my publisher’s editor. At this point, there’s nothing for me to do but sit back and wait for it to be reviewed so any residual editing can be done before the book goes to print.

I worked toward this state of completion for many months. It sapped nights, weekends, and other moments that might otherwise have been free. The feeling of it being completed, at least until editing starts, was understandably a relief of sorts. What followed, though, wasn’t something I’d expected.

I thought that, after a period, I would reconstitute myself and get back into the ring, so to speak. Whatever the next project was, be it working on Phergie or Zend Framework, I would start.

But I can’t seem to find motivation. There’s this ever-present feeling of lethargy where there used to be enthusiasm. I remember feeling similar to this when I graduated from college. As long as I had been waiting for time to work on other projects, my own projects, it felt like I didn’t have it in me when the time finally became available.

I’m not sure that state ever went away or, if it did, how I got rid of it the last time. All I know now is that I’m not sure what to do about it. Maybe it’s burn-out? I don’t know. It’s not a feeling I like, but I’m not sure how to rid myself of it. It’s like an angst to do something, a restlessness, but nothing that comes to mind seems enticing.

Have you ever felt something like this? If so, how did you get past it?