Wednesday Wisdom .... Is it STILL fun?

Why Aren't You Having Fun with Your Family History Research? I received an email the other day from Upfront with NGS and it made me really think about my own research. The question was "At some point, does your genealogy and family history research stop becoming fun? Yes, at sometimes it does. I think sometimes I get overwhelmed with the whole task and don't break it down in to smaller pieces, ones I can handle better. I am obsessed with solving this puzzle NOW. Also, I guess I keep bumping up against the same brick walls. Do you only do one line - your direct line only? OR do you reasearch other lines too? I do research all lines and I DO MEAN ALL LINES not just my direct line of GARDNER. I have learned a little bit about everyone but not alot about anyone. This articles suggested that there are three other ways of going when your genealogy stops becoming fun........                1) Stop doing genealogy for a while.     2) Switch the focus of your research (refocuss on another line or a different time peroid)     3) Produce something to share that you have learned Genealogy research is really a journey and not just a destination....  we do want to enjoy the whole journey. You need to 're-energize' yourself, feel good about what you are doing. Don't frustrate yourself......  put it away and start researching somewhere else. Besides creating family books, you can create CD's and DVD's, scrapbooks. If you 'google' different ideas you will find company's that specialize in mugs, Christmas ornaments, t-shirts, family reunion shirts, and so much more. I know my father got some type of gadget that converted his glass slides to picture form. Now that was a large project for him since our family has YEARS of taking slides. Make yourself feel good by sharing family information with extended family members. Whether it is in the form of binders with written information, published books on a single person, or event, record family stories and share them, scanning those scrapbooks that you can not get the pictures out of without tearing them (so frustrating) scan them or take pictures of them......... Another source on this subject: Kenneth R. marks of The Ancestor Hunt website posted a peice with the title "Why Aren't You Having Fun with Your Family History Research? In the article, he asks a few questions to ask yourself about your research and why it's no longer fun and then he suggests.... "Stop focusing on the ancestors you don't know and start focusing on the ancestors you do know" When you stop having fun with your genealgoy research, who do you do?      ...........posted by Sandra Gardner-Benward to help you think about other ways of doing something to change the outcome