It makes me sad and anxious at the same time that my energy to dig and look for great finds are lessened due to stress lately. Whenever I make a plan and I seem sure and optimistic about it, I end up overthinking. Not sure if it's excitement or anxiety. Has anyone felt the same?
I need to have some finds.
- Thread starter claypile
- Start date
Trezurehunter
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I am always excited and anticipate a good find when I head out to metal detect. Once I get to my spot though, I am completely relaxed and just walk and let the detector do its job. For me, part of the hobby is to be outside, relax, and enjoy nature and the outdoors. This hobby helps to reduce whatever stress I may have at the time.
I will probably go out the end of next week. Hope to find something. I have a new site near me and will explore it but it's up a hill in a woods filled with monsters.
I overthink EVERYTHING lol. As for your stress, sorry to hear about that, but most the time when you just get out and go and you'll find it will get better. If you don't find anything you're looking for, sucks, but at least now you know what to expect from that area and got out and some fresh air etc. I know anxiety issues all too well jfc.
dts52
Bronze Member
It’s easy to anticipate unlikely results, that’s what keeps people going to casinos. While I am like you in that I really, really think that this hunt is “the one”, I try to pull myself back into reality. I do it because it’s something that I enjoy doing - nothing more. It’s easy to get sucked into a competition when you see some of the great finds posted on the internet. If you’re in it for competition then I can understand your disappointment. If you’re like me, a handful of pull tabs, a few clads and the trash I pick up along the way keep me coming back.
HH
dts
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dts
watercolor
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All it takes is ONE unexpected recover to get the juices flowing.
Back-of-the-boat
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Just go somewhere in the middle of no where and don't expect to find anything, but you aren't around anyone to make you anxious and if you have no expectations of any finds then anything you do find will be great. If you aren't anywhere that you expect to find certain things then anything you do find is a bonus.
Randy Combs
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If getting a permission is causing stress, detect your yard or go to a park. I always say, Any day digging is a good day, whether I find something good or not.
Pretty sure my very FIRST find with a metal detector was a pull tab and then another and another lol. But hey, cleaning up the park and less junk to deal with in the future or for the next guy. Also, I found a metalic McDonalds thing and couldn't for the life of me figure out what it is and didn't know them to use foil wrappers like Wendys etc. Come to find out, it was a Mayo packet circa 2010...the time I put into researching that one was at least an hour until I looked at more closely lol 
ArfieBoy
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It's probably some of both, excitement and anxiety. Both can produce lethargy, less interest in things and activities that you used to be into, etc.. Good luck. Getting out anyway can be a way out of that. Push your comfort level a little. I have found that always helps me even though I am uncomfortable with it to begin with.
ticndig
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Hit the woods claypile , with detector in hand or just scouting, the woods is where you'll find calm and can be at peace. I walked about 4 miles today in the woods looking for signs of a site to dig. your lack of energy may be due to being out of shape or depression.
Not saying you are either but it's what comes to mind as I battle both...
the harder you push your body the more fit you'll be both in mind and body..
Not saying you are either but it's what comes to mind as I battle both...
the harder you push your body the more fit you'll be both in mind and body..
Last edited:
mts
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A lot of metal detectorists refer to what we do as "dirt fishing". There are a lot of similarities with regular fishing. Most fishermen would never describe fishing as "stressful". It is supposed to be quite the opposite.
Just like regular fishing, when dirt fishing, the idea is to get out and enjoy yourself. Sometimes the only thing you will catch are "little fish". But there will someday come a day when you "reel in a big one" and that makes it all worth while. But reeling in the little ones can also be enjoyable.
So don't worry about it. Just go have fun. Putting pressure on yourself is just not worth it.
It took me YEARS to find my first silver coin. And when I finally found it, you would have thought that I would have been jumping over the moon. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty excited. And then I calmed down and went right back to detecting again. My point is that I had built myself up to really wanting to accomplish that goal and when it finally happened I realized that it wasn't that big of a deal. So don't put pressure on yourself over it.
As a side note, in finding that first silver coin I realized that all along it was my own fault that I was not succeeding. There are tiny little things you can do to improve your odds. For example, for many years I didn't dig any signals that weren't repeatable from both directions. Turns out, silver coins that are deep won't always give you a good signal in both directions. You have to be willing to go after those faint iffy signals to find the heavy/old stuff. Now I look much more carefully at how deep the target appears to be. If it is deep, I don't care what it sounds like I'm going to dig it. I was also just hunting in parks. Well, if you want to find silver coins you have to go to where silver coins are found. And the parks around me aren't old enough for there to be many silver coins. I finally went to a 1940s home site and the fourth signal I dug for the day was a silver Mercury dime! I actually found two silver coins, 65 clad coins, a musket ball, a lead pistol ball, two silver plated spoons, and a 1958 fair token. All in four hours of detecting! It was the best day out I had ever had in all my years of detecting. Needless to say it made me reflect on what I had been doing wrong all those years.
I'm not saying that you are doing something wrong. All I can say is that I didn't think that I was doing anything wrong until I started analyzing my results and then I realized that I could make improvements that increased my chances of being successful. So if you are stressing over a lack of finds, take another hard look at where you are detecting and what you might be doing that is causing you to not be as successful as you'd like to be.
Good luck!
Just like regular fishing, when dirt fishing, the idea is to get out and enjoy yourself. Sometimes the only thing you will catch are "little fish". But there will someday come a day when you "reel in a big one" and that makes it all worth while. But reeling in the little ones can also be enjoyable.
So don't worry about it. Just go have fun. Putting pressure on yourself is just not worth it.
It took me YEARS to find my first silver coin. And when I finally found it, you would have thought that I would have been jumping over the moon. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty excited. And then I calmed down and went right back to detecting again. My point is that I had built myself up to really wanting to accomplish that goal and when it finally happened I realized that it wasn't that big of a deal. So don't put pressure on yourself over it.
As a side note, in finding that first silver coin I realized that all along it was my own fault that I was not succeeding. There are tiny little things you can do to improve your odds. For example, for many years I didn't dig any signals that weren't repeatable from both directions. Turns out, silver coins that are deep won't always give you a good signal in both directions. You have to be willing to go after those faint iffy signals to find the heavy/old stuff. Now I look much more carefully at how deep the target appears to be. If it is deep, I don't care what it sounds like I'm going to dig it. I was also just hunting in parks. Well, if you want to find silver coins you have to go to where silver coins are found. And the parks around me aren't old enough for there to be many silver coins. I finally went to a 1940s home site and the fourth signal I dug for the day was a silver Mercury dime! I actually found two silver coins, 65 clad coins, a musket ball, a lead pistol ball, two silver plated spoons, and a 1958 fair token. All in four hours of detecting! It was the best day out I had ever had in all my years of detecting. Needless to say it made me reflect on what I had been doing wrong all those years.
I'm not saying that you are doing something wrong. All I can say is that I didn't think that I was doing anything wrong until I started analyzing my results and then I realized that I could make improvements that increased my chances of being successful. So if you are stressing over a lack of finds, take another hard look at where you are detecting and what you might be doing that is causing you to not be as successful as you'd like to be.
Good luck!
Last edited:
eyemustdigtreasure
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Blame it all on the weather...!
relicmeister
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Keep expectations low and optimism high. Don’t make detect a chore. Trying too hard at anything makes it less enjoyable.
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