The “January Blahs.”
There is a point in any activity when you’ve been marching forward for so long enough that you’re feeling “all kinds of blah”, as a friend put it. She asked colleagues, “Where are your favorite places to turn for inspiration or motivation when you’re feeling burned out?”
I think every place you can think of fits a general rule: stop marching and start dreaming. A conference. A vacation. A long walk. Whatever it takes to quit the methodical day-to-day grind and have some time to imagine.
However, the reverse is just as important. There are many people who get stuck in a dreaming rut; they need to find the guts to start marching forward towards those dreams.
You need both: march to achieve your dreams, and dream for relief from the long marches.