Help me find my training passion again

[Ginko]

I've been training one hour a day since I started drumming some 8 months ago, but I can't do it anymore. I keep telling myself to do it, but I keep pushing it away, and I end up doing it late in the afternoon, or have half the session be the time it took me to finish some things on the computer and put the music on (it even is right now, as I am typing this).
This season of professional lessons is over, so I am drifting on my own.

My current daily schedule is: School from 8 am to 2 pm, 80 minutes hour of jogging + shower, 1 hour of drumming, 30 minutes of reading, 'least 8 hours of sleep. And you might say: "Hey, free from 5 pm to 11 pm, how is that not enough for you, spoiled brat?" I even did so myself. But I can only respond to my body, and this is going nowhere. I can't get myself to do it all, most days.

What I am currently doing on the drumset is: I have 2 simple, short songs I am learning ([ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXY1aUW8Orc"]this[/ame] and a simplified, drumset-able version of [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fPFtDdqnJI"]this[/ame]), I am improving my grip, I am moving around the drumset; increasing speed and practicing fills that end on the floor tom instead of a random tom like I did earlier.

So I was wondering if you guys had tips for making drum practice easier, perhaps more lighthearted. Whether it be switching up the time (like 3 x 20 minutes) or making the playing more fun. I don't know how much casual "for fun" playing (or jamming) I can get away with, so I never bothered trying too much.

Or perhaps more general tips, if you have knowledge on the area. Is it okay to only jog every second or third day when you drum? How hard should you be drumming then? Etc.

Help greatly appreciated.
-Ginko

[pastor_bob]

Welcome to Drum Chat Ginko!

What you are going through is not unusual at all. My own personal observation is that one of the things that gets us in this place is that we progress to a place of a plateau, and then we struggle to get off it, and progress again. Then frustration starts to set in, and we get down on ourselves. Somewhere along the way, we forget why we started playing - because drumming is fun!

I would say that you need to relax a bit, and if you need to shorten you practice time temporarily, do it. At the end of your practice time, just play something fun. It doesn't have to be a song, it can be as simple as playng a cool beat that you know. Just make sure that you make drumming fun again, and enjoy what you do know, and lay aside worrying about what you don't know.