frustrated

I've been frustrated with my photos lately.  They've gotten lazy...an idea is there but I haven't fully formed it, so I'm left with a photo that lacks the quality I desire.  Lately, in many aspects of my life, when I don't get the results I want, I tend to just stop doing it. I take it as the universe's message that maybe I'm focusing my energy on the wrong thing. I've been doing that a lot lately (letting go) and I miss those things I've stopped doing...REALLY what I miss is being good at something...something creative, something passionate. It's one thing to try something new and not be good at it; it's a whole other mindfuck to no longer be as good in an activity where once I excelled. I wouldn't say I ever excelled in photography, but I have had better times with it than others.  Perhaps, with other activities, I'm just bad at accepting the lulls - the plateaus, so to speak.  But, how long do you stick with plateau before it's just a flat line?