Getting your spark back
“Recs for getting your spark back?”
17 answers from 15 people · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Kate Berlant told me to read this book on @Poog Podcast and it literally changed my life. Quit my job and opened a store! My bff and I read it aloud to each other on a trip to Tuscany (bliss). It’s basically the TLDR version of every book jungian analyst James Hollis has ever written— each chapter is like 4 pages long and you’re only allowed to read one chapter a day. The actual truths of life that are too inconvient for grift-y self help books. The ONLY man I trust!
12
I’ve read so much self-help, and I think this book is the only one that I recommend that people come back and later thank me for. I’ve even had someone I recommended it too forget and recommend it to me later. It’s just motivating months later which I think is the hard part of trying to evolve. Eventually, you lose the courage or the why. And there’s no better reminder than being more conscientious of time passing. Also, I am sorry you are going through this. When I had my last break-up, a friend went to a used bookstore and bought me her favorite books. She took me to a Korean spa and explained why she chose each one… and we both read. And I can’t help but think how much I wish I could do that for someone else. Maybe you might want to? It’s nice to return to what makes you happy… and there’s no better way to get out of your own head than to think of how to make someone else happy who deserves your love. Also, retail therapy.
331
lost? no sense of purpose? this book rewired my brain...
Wicker Park Neighborhood Guide
I read a Substack called The Seasonalist that focuses on “joyful anticipation”, so to get out of a rut I try to build it into my life in different ways. One of the easiest is to pick a place I regularly pass on my commute that catches my eye, and make a real plan to stop and actually go in and see it in person. Maybe it’s a bar or restaurant that I make a plan to try with a friend or family member, or it’s a shop that I make time to go into and browse, or it could even be a park that I bring a book to one evening. The point is just to a. break up the same old same old and b. to go from wondering what a place is like to actually experiencing it. It’s a way to keep things from getting stale! (Also, ignore the photo & link, I just posted those for RL tax since it’s a neighborhood I pass through on my own commute!)
2
the metamorphosis by franz kafka
this book genuinely got me out of a multiple year long reading slump and back into reading
42
Madness, Rack, and Honey (Mary Ruefle)
This collection of lectures Mary Ruefle gave to her poetry students. This book changed my life because it made me want to think (and consider, and wonder, and mull over, and investigate, and articulate myself) in new ways, and I think it helped change my brain's pathways for the better. It changed the way I think of the moon and I've re-read her piece "My Emily Dickinson" many times and every time I gasp aloud at a certain part. If your library doesn't have it, try interlibrary loan!
5
20 recs
breaking free from algorithms, slowing down, returning to things i forgot i loved
5 recs
recommendations for experiences and activities that, in my opinion, feel soooo good
things I do to stave off inevitable doom
14 recs
My grab bag of tips and tricks! Now available for you!
Pick a new hobby and commit to being bad at it
Seriously. I was depressed, empty, burnt out, uninspired, and bland. I talked about it in therapy often. My therapist told me to pick something I could do for just me. No one would need to know or see it. So it could be really bad. I kept mentioning I wanted to learn how to do Lino prints. So I bought some basic supplies and started. It was the beginning of finding my spark back. I made mistakes, had big flops, but I also made something with my own two hands. It was an incredibly physical process. It was repetitive and cathartic and healed my nervous system enough to find joy and creativity back. Your spark isn’t gone for good. It just needs some more kindling to make it grow into a brilliant roaring flame. Rooting for you. :)
60
having an arbitrary stupid goal
I stole this from Tamara Shopsin’s excellent memoir, but her dad’s take is that to be happy, you should always have SOMETHING you are chasing. No matter how stupid. It makes life fun! Good potential goals: Going to all the state parks in your state Reading every Jane Austen book in a month Seeing a movie a week for a year
788
Do the thing you loved to do most when you were 10
This practice is especially useful if you’ve grown out of touch with joy.
1
Just a great way to do more fun stuff. Very satisfying to get bingo! (my friend did an unemployment bingo card and said it single handily is getting her through it)
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