In 1994 I stopped playing bass. There was no music that influenced me in the rock/pop arena. Over the next seven years I picked up a bass maybe a handful of times. Then in spring 2001 a whole series of coincidences happened. That spurred me on to pick up a bass again and I really started enjoying it.
What changed? I don't know that anything changed as such. The time was just right. I had changed direction musically and moved into traditional folk playing the bouzouki and that led to me getting involved in jazz. that's when the bass came back and I haven't looked back since.
I look on it a bit like the life of a butterfly, if that's not too pretentious. Those earlier years were the caterpillar phase where I just went round eating up every kind of music I could. Like you, I had to play every day. then I pupated for seven years after which I blossomed forth into a beautiful butterfly. (God, what am I on [size=4] )[/size]
[size=4]What I'm saying is, don't beat yourself up about it. It is what it is. If you are going to get back to bass you will in the fullness of time. Just go with it. I would also say don't sell your gear if you have the space to store it.[/size]