It's not that I'm burned out on masks, exactly, but something isn't fueling me anymore. Not sure where else to put it. I don't mind advice.

Orders are very, very few and far between. I'm not advertising, though this is intentional because I'm also still moving and I don't have the time to be super busy with work until after I'm settled.

I'm not super motivated to do the orders I do have - ordinarily the mindset here tends to be "I don't have to do this immediately; therefore I have time and will do it later," which I know is a habit formed from years of my only real motivation coming from urgency. I also know this isn't healthy and I'm trying to undo it.

However, I know that isn't all of it. There's more to this than just "this isn't urgent." It's more a sense of, like ... "why am I even doing this?"

I don't feel like I'm helping anything anymore. There isn't a high demand for masks. I'm questioning why anyone is even ordering them at all. And I know that the pandemic isn't Magically Over, just because vaccination rates are higher and case counts are down. I know people are still wearing masks, and for other reasons too.

And I guess at first, after the announcement that "you don't need a mask if you're fully vaccinated," I felt like I was just filling "left over" orders out of obligation. Like I'm sending people stuff they may not actually use or want or need anymore.

And, like ... maybe rather than question why people want my stuff, just accept and be glad that they do. That's a logical response. But my emotional response is a weirdly resounding "meh."

I want to move on, and I want to make other things like I keep saying that I've planned, and I want to do more art. But even the art I'm doing is ... idk, it's fueled by the hope that someone will want it, rather than my own passion for making something cool. And this blah will probably pass, I get that.

The mask as a template for my designs has been easy - I've gotten used to it and I still like the concept of using it as the basis, but the need just doesn't feel there. For whatever that's worth.

"So don't worry about the need and just make art. The mask is the form - don't worry about the function. People still want them - and they want them from you." Right?