Ask HN: How do I find energy to work on hobbies after the work day ends?

I’m sitting here at 11 at night watching my 3rd straight hour of TV. It’s embarrassing, but I’m so wiped out after a day of work, that my brain just doesn’t feel like doing anything. I’m sitting here in my bedroom looking at a book I’ve been meaning to finish for months, but it’s complex enough that when I start working on the next chapter, I get a quarter of the way through it and have to put it down, because I just dont “get it” when I feel this way. Across from me is my desk, with a computer where somewhere on it, is a half built personal website I was using as a way to teach myself web development. But when I open it up and start working on it, I feel like I’m missing that spark that makes the right connections to learn new things like JavaScript objects and how they work. I have Duolingo on my phone, which I complete in spurts lasting 2 or 3 days then I drop for maybe a week or so, even though I know it’s only “10 minutes a day”. If I do it now, I won’t remember most of it tomorrow. My job isn’t particularly demanding. It’s average. I don’t work more than maybe 8-9 hours a day on stuff that I understand most of but still have a chance to learn new things. My point is it’s not like it’s a brutal work culture at all. I even exercise mid day or after work (depending on how busy I am) which is proportioned to give one energy, not take it away. But yet at the end of the day, I’m just beat. How do you find the motivation to do the things you genuinely enjoy, when you’re too wiped out to do them? Is this normal?

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/3cHHJmC