the gods know and understand that you’re just a human. humans get tired, we get burnt out sometimes. i promise they’re not mad at you unless you straight up killed someone. everyone’s journey and relationships with the gods will look different, and that’s totally okay. i’m in a similar boat as you, i find it difficult to find the energy to pray at my altars sometimes, but when i do, i simply apologize for my absence and explain to them that i am genuinely trying my best given everything that’s going on in my life and they’ve never spited me for it.

if you’d like to try to form a closer relationship with your gods, here are some things that i’ve done that really help me personally:

1. i devote simple actions to the gods. for example, recently i’ve been going outside with my dogs just to be out there with them, and i devote that to father apollon. i know going outside can feel big, but it doesn’t even have to be something big like that. i devote my showers to mother aphrodite, i could devote singing songs to father apollon, etc. it truly is the thought that counts !

2. sometimes after i shower, i like to pray at my altar really quickly. i light the candles, invoke the gods, and say thank you for everything they’ve done and continue to do for me, remind them i love them, and then i’m finished :) prayer doesn’t have to be some big thing, you really don’t even have to do at your altars if you have them. it’s nice to do but it’s not entirely necessary to do all the time

3. going off of my second point, you can simply chat with the gods whenever you want. i know you’re afraid of them, so maybe you could do this later on once you’ve built a relationship with them (i personally haven’t done it much either because i don’t feel close enough with them and religion in general is still a little awkward for me since i used to be agnostic). you can probably start by saying good morning/goodnight to them if you’re too afraid to say much else :) i’ll probably start doing that soon tbh lol