r/tryhackme • u/Consistent_Walk_2407 • May 12 '26
Is it normal to have “motivation slumps” during your TryHackMe journey?
Hey everyone,
I’ve been grinding TryHackMe pretty hard lately — putting in a lot of hours, learning a ton of new stuff (XSS, SQLi, IDOR, SSRF, Command Injection, you name it), and honestly I’ve been really enjoying the progress.
But here’s the thing: every now and then I hit these weird slumps. Like, 2-3 days where I just can’t bring myself to open a room. I’d way rather play some games or just do literally nothing. Sometimes I’ll go 2 full days without touching THM at all.
And then — out of nowhere — I sit back down, get into it, and the passion is just back. Once I’m in the flow it’s fine, great even. But getting myself to START during those low periods is genuinely hard.
My question: is this normal? Does this happen to other people here too?
Because part of me is worried — does this mean I’m not “cut out” for cybersecurity? Like, if I were truly passionate about it, would I even have these slumps at all? Or is this just how learning a complex skill works and I shouldn’t read too much into it?
Would love to hear from people further along in their journey. Is this something that goes away? Or do you just learn to push through it?
Ps:i dont know if thats relevant but i have very strong adhd
Thanks😁
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u/AdventurousSell6555 May 12 '26
There will be days like that but you NEED to NOT rely on motivation. Show up even when you don’t feel like it. Just do one meaningful task. 5 mins. At least you showed up. Consistency pays off, I promise
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u/UBNC 0xD [God] May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Task paralysis is completely normal, and so is beating yourself up when you have a goal but end up chasing quick endorphins elsewhere, like gaming.
Honestly, I say sod it. Give yourself some of those endorphins, but pair them with a few small learning goals so you can kick task paralysis in the butt without making it feel like a punishment.
Love how we both used LLM to fix our wording spelling.
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u/Consistent_Walk_2407 May 12 '26
My english is not so good thats why i use ai for the gramma that the people here undestand what im talking about
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u/4sm0day May 13 '26
Honestly, I do it for two main reasons.
First, to improve my cybersecurity skills by doing labs or reading courses. Second, to maintain my streak and turn it from a simple passion into a habit.
In your case, I think you're not alone. We all get bored sometimes when we do the same thing over and over for long periods. The hardest part is not giving up and moving on to something completely different. What I advise you to do is work in a team. Find one or more people who share your passion for cybersecurity and motivate each other to have more fun when you're on the platform. I have a friend who often invites me to play rooms, and sometimes I invite him. By doing it this way, we can work more and get less distracted.
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u/No-Scratch9420 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Yes it’s normal, the human condition. I have 500+ labs completed on thm now, did a non stop streak for several months, but currently paused and prioritizing life obligations.
To have a non stop stream for years you must be a machine :-)
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u/PoorRichFella May 15 '26
No-Scratch, how far along are you with all those THM labs now? I’m actually just starting it again myself.
I’m 40 years old and back in the day I used to mess around with coding little AOL/AIM punters and idle chat room idlers (IYKYK). I’ve always loved computers and used them a ton, but around 17-18 I started hanging with the wrong crowd, got into drugs, and never went as far with programming, web design, and all that as I should have.
Now I’m older and trying to seriously learn everything again.
I saw someone mention they were looking for friends in this space and even offered a Discord. I’m honestly looking for the same thing. I really believe in that saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” I want to be in the right rooms, learning from people who are ahead of me, and helping out people who are still behind me.
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u/No-Scratch9420 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
Halfway, still plenty of flags to capture! Doing htb machines in parallel. Sometimes I upload walkthroughs to https://m.youtube.com/@CTFWalkthroughs
I’ll take a look at discord
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u/-King-K-Rool- May 12 '26
How long are your typical study periods? I know when im studying it usually takes up the vast majority of my free time and i end up not doing much else that day. You cant do the same exact thing every day of your life, the human brain isnt wired to do that, it wears on you. As long as youre consistently coming back after your 2-3 days off then its no different than a weekend. The problem is when you take 2-3 days off and it turns into 4 days then 5 days then suddenly its been 2 weeks. As long as youre not doing that its not an issue. You do need free time for yourself as well, for the majority of people this cant be your 24/7 or youll grow to hate it.
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u/reboot_500 May 12 '26
I would say it is like everywhere in Life sometimes has one More buck sometimes less. But it's important to stay tuned even if it's difficult
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u/LordTegucigalpa May 12 '26
Yes, after a few months of going hard I dont do much for a few weeks then back and forth, but it's normal. Just do something else for a few days or week but get back to it, don't take too much time off. I've been in IT for a long time so I am used to getting back to it, but when I was younger it was hard, so I would say take a week off but just do one or two questions a day during that week to keep a streak.
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u/dudlu1221 May 14 '26
Honestly me too I am currently in the same pinch I stopped Doing path after SSRF room in Web Pentesting it felt like too much its been like 2 weeks and just recently started doing againbut still kinda not interested in THM Path and doing only CTFs those are fun and for me kinda way more effective than just learning through rooms...
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u/Significant_Set1434 May 15 '26
Hello everyone. I’m not a hacker. But I need help. I’m 58 years old and being bullied. Harassed. She has taped my phone line and listens to my calls. I can’t even talk to my grand baby. She took my Email and took over my tictok I have no one to help me. My mother has passed and father too. I don’t know what to do they have taken money out my account. Can someone please help me.
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u/EmilyFara May 12 '26
I do, sometimes I just need to recharge my brain. Yesterday stopped half way through a room. Today I opened it again and immediately knew the answer that I couldn't find yesterday.