One day last week I spent almost an hour chasing targets and re-shipping from one thing to the next, organizing response gangs, trying to herd cats, and generally trying to find a target, chase a target, position ourselves to engage a target, and essentially - in the final analysis - not get a single engagement. Much less a good fight. Yesterday we spent two hours prepping for and executing a nice afternoon of Wormhole diving only to get wiped out with not much to show for it.
In a game like Eve Online it is easy to get caught up in the thrill of fights (or whatever your personal end goal might be) and overlook the importance of those in-between times. Hanging out in space with your friends, trying to execute a plan, organizing things, doing the leg work, laughing on comms, sharing fits, whatever activities you do when you are not doing the "thing" you play for. After all, fighting all the time, would get insanely boring after a while.
After 12+ years of playing this game I can tell you that these moments when things are boring or slow, are what make Eve hum. The undercurrent. The connective tissue. The times when desperation leads to innovation. When my mind starts working on other plans, other schemes, other approaches. It is critical to allow this to happen, in my opinion, for the rest of the game to make sense.
Ultimately however it comes down to allowing yourself to enjoy those parts of the game. Instead of focusing on the negative, how empty local might be for example, focus on the positive aspects of what that time gives you. Eve is a cyclical experience, it ebbs and flows like the tide. This is a constant and provable fact of life in the space-lanes. Downtime just means you have time to reconsider your fits, try something new, or build the foundation for your efforts. Like, maybe now is a good time to make those bookmarks you never get time to make.
The other thing I know is that being out in space makes its own content. While being docked up (except for the obvious important reasons) doesn't generate any content. Undock, fly around, explore a little, travel somewhere new. Eventually you will find the content or it will find you.
I don't have much more to say about it. Enjoy those moments when not much is happening. They are important.