Fear of quitting?

[G2013]

Well I only felt once the sensation of not wanting to cube. But that happens me almost always with everything (except with cubing [I'll explain that later in this text]).

I get a new hobby, then I do whatever that hobby implies for an indefinite time (could be 1 month, 2 months, maybe half an year, or maybe some weeks) then I get tired of it. I end up being good at that thing, then I pick up another hobby. That has happened to me with: Origami, Writing, Languages, Sudokus, etc.

I eventually do 1 or 2 sudokus, or do 1 or 2 origami things, or maybe start again with the hobby (right now it's languages).
But when a hobby really draws my total attention, cubing is put aside for some days.
For example, this year I only did 3 or 4 successful BLD solves. But I learnt a lot of Italian and German.

Idk do what you like

 

[AlphaSheep]

I've only been speedcubing for a relatively short time, but I've been solving cubes casually for over 13 years. I don't think I'm ever going to quit completely. When I get bored of speedcubing (as I'm sure I will eventually), I will probably go back to just casually solving, and I don't see any reason to fear that.

 

[Psyph3r]

I have also been cubing off and on for about 10 years now. Just recently picked up speed cubing (if you can call my times that). It's one thing to pump the breaks on practice but I would say you should try to at least stay in touch with friends you have made if nothing else. Nothing says that if you take a break or stop pushing yourself you can't still be a part of the community.

 

[OkinawaSolver]

I have also been cubing off and on for about 10 years now. Just recently picked up speed cubing (if you can call my times that). It's one thing to pump the breaks on practice but I would say you should try to at least stay in touch with friends you have made if nothing else. Nothing says that if you take a break or stop pushing yourself you can't still be a part of the community.

Well said man.

 

[Ross The Boss]

you can easily keep in touch with friends even though you've stopped practicing. a good friend ive made through this hobby hasnt competed/"practiced" for 2 years yet he still shows up to the toronto comps to hang out.

i understand the fear/discomfort you feel. it is obviously the irrational to keep doing something even after it has become a chore, but (for me) there always seems to be some sort of personal obligation to continue with it. it happened to me when i did gymnastics and tricking and boxing and working out. its like i put so much value on those things and poured so much of my time and money and pride and effort into the hobby that i couldnt help but see myself as immoral for quitting. if you care about something to the point that your whole life revolves around it, the worst thing that can happen is losing it. so when your passion for the task leaves, your mind is just left there wondering what to do with its self. you have to compleatly reassess your sense of personal worth at that point.

sorry for the rambling

 

[CiaranBeahan]

I've never quit, I have a phobia of quitting cubing!

 

[cmhardw]

To the OP: It is absolutely guaranteed that your feelings about cubing are going to change, many times, over the years. Embrace the change, cube if you want to and don't cube if you don't want to.

you can easily keep in touch with friends even though you've stopped practicing. a good friend ive made through this hobby hasnt competed/"practiced" for 2 years yet he still shows up to the toronto comps to hang out.

i understand the fear/discomfort you feel. it is obviously the irrational to keep doing something even after it has become a chore, but (for me) there always seems to be some sort of personal obligation to continue with it. it happened to me when i did gymnastics and tricking and boxing and working out. its like i put so much value on those things and poured so much of my time and money and pride and effort into the hobby that i couldnt help but see myself as immoral for quitting. if you care about something to the point that your whole life revolves around it, the worst thing that can happen is losing it. so when your passion for the task leaves, your mind is just left there wondering what to do with its self. you have to compleatly reassess your sense of personal worth at that point.

sorry for the rambling

I feel a lot like this. I recently met up with Richard Patterson and Frank Morris this past weekend. It was awesome! I haven't seen Frank in 6 years and Richard in 8 years. We did very little cubing and mainly hung out, proof for me that the friendships you make in cubing go beyond just this shared hobby.

I also feel a sort of obligation to not quit cubing, since I've been in it for so long now and it has been such an influential part of my life. My level of interest had changed drastically since I first started, and now I practice only when I want to and while I am enjoying it.

The biggest part that I am adjusting to now is how different the community feels when many of your closest cubing friends have retired or mostly left the sport while you're still in it. Not all of my good friends have left yet, and I'm making new friends of course and still enjoying it, which is why I am still around. It's an interesting dynamic that I am still adjusting to.

If you stay in it for a while, your cubing goes through many phases, and it's neat to me to see how they change over time.

 

[ottozing]

I don't plan on quitting cubing any time soon, but the idea of quitting doesn't really scare me. I definitely feel fulfilled and happy with my accomplishments, so although I've invested a lot of time, money, and energy into this hobby, I don't think leaving it would make me feel "unfinished" if that makes sense. There's no doubt that I would miss the friends I've made and going to competitions if I quit, but if I were to no longer enjoy cubing or feel the need to go to competitions then that's that.

 

[freshcuber]

This is my first post in I don't know how long and I just recently (within the past week) have returned with renewed interest. Seeing my averages spike is frustrating but I've only been casually (very casually) cubing the past couple years. I ended up burning myself out 'cause I was preparing for a competition in Cornell. I was cubing for times and speed, speed speed. I went to the competition, had a great time, and then didn't touch my cubes for a while after that. I started with 3x3 of course and the worked my way up to bigger and bigger cubes. 6x6 was my favorite event and now 4x4 is taking its place. I only say I'm "returning" to cubing because I just ordered a Moyu Aosu, my first new cube since 2011. What dragged me back into cubing wasn't the prospect of shattering PB's. I'd forgotten how to solve my megaminx and seeing that damn thing scrambled all the time finally drove me crazy enough to watch a video and get back to solving it. I just finished my first 3x3 Ao100 and I must say, it was a grind even though I did it over the course of a day. The idea of grinding another 100 solves or even doing 20 more 4x4 solves to get to an Ao50 right now is just not appealing. I'm gonna dig out my OLL flashcards and re-learn all those since I never really had them down. Going into auto-solve mode and cranking out a bajillion solves isn't exactly fun.

I prefer to be challenged and when just solving stopped being a challenge I quit because cubing was no longer stimulating. Learning new algs, methods, BLD and how to solve my square-1 are what excites me now cause they're going to be challenging and new experiences. Speedcubing can definitely be fun, but don't let it get in the way of having a good time while cubing.

 

[ZamHalen]

To be honest I'm on the verge of quitting now. I practice for maybe 30 minutes every two weeks now if anything. I haven't improved my times and haven't had a sub 10 single in over a year now. To be honest I do fear outright quitting if not solely due to the fact that I've invested so much time into this hobby just to see it go to waste. The reality is that I'm twenty now, and haven't seen anyone improve much further than I have at my age or older (with the exception of Maskow, but that guy's a freak of nature).Truth be told, the only thing keeping me from quitting is the fact that I started the Texas Speedcubing facebook group about a year ago to improve networking and haven't done anything since.

If I do quit though I doubt it will be permanently. I thought I had quit Yugioh about 5-6 years ago, but here I am now playing at an even higher level than I had before (admittedly this is probably why haven't done much cubing recently lol). If anything I might start practicing big cubes seeing that I never really gave them a chance and do find it interesting.