@JohnM I understand your point of view - I’m normally really motivated. In fact, my wife says my unmotivated is more than most people’s motivated!
But this week, I’m back on it and, as a result I can analyse my demotivation. The demotivating factors were, as I thought, losing my playing partners and being unable to get to my long-planned festival. They left me without some of my main goals for the year. In fact, at times, losing my playing partner has felt like breaking up with a girlfriend!
The replies here were a tremendous help in my remotivation - @BanjoBen’s generous offer left me thinking I can’t let him down and the time others spent in crafting responses really helped too.
In particular, I’d single out @Archie: His comment about finding inspiration in Ben’s lessons set me thinking: My local bar had a great St Patrick’s celebration (not easy to find here in rural France!) and I’ve set myself the target of learning a few tunes to play there next year. I went through the learning tracks and have bookmarked a few to work on.
Having a couple of regular playing partners has been great for my development as a musician but meant that I was spending a lot of time just practising for our sessions together and limited the progress I’ve been making through Ben’s learning track. After time for reflection, I’m motivated to continue with this aspect of my practice. I have reorganised my sessions and can clearly see what I’m aiming for.
Thanks again to all for your replies!