Practicing

I've been struggling the past few days, today especially, with motivation to practice. Sometimes I get revved up and can practice for hours. When I learn something new, I do feel inspired to practice it a lot, but after a week or two, it turns into a chore. Days, like today, I can barely get through a one hour practice session. I try to take it as it comes but the fear is always that I will stop playing.
I also have symptoms of a condition called piriformis, or also known as a "pain in the butt." From what I understand, it's caused by the sciatia nerve and can be very uncomfortable, especially when sitting for a long time. I could try standing up with the ukulele and the bass uke, but not with the dulcimer. Standing and walking do not seem to help much anyway.
Another frustration is that I play three different instruments. I could easily practice one instrument several hours a day, but to practice each of them several hours a day would  be pretty difficult. I still have to take care of my dogs, clean my living space (at least a little), do laundry, grocery shop, cook and do some work. I really felt I was goofing off until I took a good, hard look at my daily chore list. I need to learn some time management skills.

Things that motivate me

• One of my best motivators is playing with other people. I do like to show off a new tune or riff. I've mentioned that I've been going to jam sessions recently.  I always feel like putting in the time in the "shed" after a jam session. I've missed a few sessions but plan to get back on track this coming weekend.
  I've also been playing with my sister long-distance by way of Skype. There are problems with using Skype. We can't hear both of us at the same time but it's better than nothing.
• I love to listen to really good players. That works really well for dulcimer, but I haven't seen a single bluegrass ukulele player. There are tons of good bass players out there but they generally play upright bass in bluegrass. Most electric bass players play other styles. I have only seen one person playing a bass uke with bluegrass players. So I have no one to emulate in my chosen style of music. I guess that makes me a trend-setter.
• Keeping notes and planning my practice sessions. I know this is a great way to make the best use of my practice time. It helps to keep track of what I'm working on. I can get lazy with this too.
• Reading blogs and articles on how other people motivate themselves to practice. Sometimes I read something that just triggers an "Oh, Wow" moment and that can motivate me for days.  Sometimes I spend too much time on the Internet and not enough actually practicing.

Well, tomorrow is another day.