Stymied

I am stymied.  I have a cold and my eye is still flashing and blurry, and I do not take infirmities well at all.  I only wish to dull my senses.  Life should be vivid; illness should be narcotized.  

I have yet to take a photograph this year but for the snapshots of the eclipse. I lack drive, am uninspired. A talented young photographer has written to me wondering what to do when he feels he is doing the same thing again and again and doesn't feel artistic growth.
I am honored by the question and offer advice, but I am shamed by it all as well feeling experientially unqualified to provide more than a rhetorical answer.

Here are some photographs I bought at an antique store, tintypes.  I love portraits, the shape of the face, the cast of the eyes, the story of the body.  All portraits seem mythical to me.  I want to make myths.