Things I collect:
Friends (I have lots), Memories (Tons), and Ex-Girlfriends (I have lots). Otherwise, if I don't use it in 6 months I give it away. My rational brain can't seem to allow things/collections to control me.
Are YOU a person who "collects" things? Let's chat a moment . . .
by Terry 33 Replies latest jw friends
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prologos
not clear, do you collect or not. If you have not used in six months, then you give away, so you can not be collecting. ?
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DJS
All apologies Prologos,
No, I do not collect. My rational self views collecting 'things' as control. I've tried but it just doesn't take.
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Terry
I think of the aspect of collecting which is most problematic: wanting vs. having.
A psychologist could certainly dream up a way of telling us there is a giant HOLE in the center of our lives we are
trying to FILL with "things." Hmmm . . . meh . . . I dunno, that sounds a bit too precious.
The "wanting" of things you don't have (and certainly don't "need") is a fairly common human characteristic.
The neurosis of it comes down to spending more time with the PROCESS of collecting, than in ordinary daily life.
Your hobby (mania) grows until it IS YOUR LIFE.
That was true of my record collecting. It took over my mind.
Pride in a beautiful collection of something prized and valuable, on the other hand, is a reflection of our tasted and breeding.
"A man is the essence of the things he loves." I truly believe that.
What you collect and how you spend your time says the most about you authentically.
I knew a fellow who collected wines. He belonged to a subscription service in France, but he lived in California. It was sort of
like the Book of the Month club for experts in. (The word is Oenophile.)
I once worked with a fellow who collected polaroid photographs of other people's poop. Every time the toilet would stop up at work
(a bookstore) he'd run in and take a snapshot. Oh yes--I'm not kidding.
My Aunt Florence started with piggy banks and progressed to a mania for buying 2 of everything she liked.
She bought 2 of every Beatle's record which came out. (All of that was destroyed when her roof caved in and she left it untended for a couple of years.)
I was married to a lady who collected old dress patterns she bought on Ebay. From that she branched out into an obsession with garage sales and estate sales. Finally, not a day went by she didn't bring home SOMETHING totally useless, weird and impossible to appreciate.
Humans are a peculiar people.
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prologos
perhaps it has something to do with the desire to leave a legacy, even not our own?
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NewYork44M
I am not a collector. I probably border on minimalism. Of course, living in a small Manhattan apartment discourages any collecting.
Also, the whole concept of obsessive collecting is something foreign to me. I just don't get it. I am not critical, just don't get it. Perhaps this goes back to my father who considered a desire to have a hobby a personal weakness. And, collecting - forget about it.
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myelaine
I collect vintage perfume and vintage commercial perfume bottles. I also collect vintage dinnerware (the beautiful bright flowery kind) for eventual use in my homebased business. I'll be renting out miss-matched china for special events as soon as I have service for 200. I have service for 170 now so some time early next year I hope to have a webpage and be up and running. I'm pretty excited about it and can hardly wait for my friend to help me with my webpage...I have to do a bunch of different tablescapes and take a ton of pictures before we start on that :)
xo
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FlyingHighNow
I like collecting magnets because they are fun, portable and easy to keep clean. My kids and made magnets when they were growing up as well. The watermelon ones are a couple from those times.
Just some of my magnet collection. I have collected more since these pictures were taken. I had some pigs that would fall off and their ears would break off.
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TD
I collect historic firearms and look upon it mostly as an investment. Most of them can't be shot, but they double in value approximately every 8 - 10 years.
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FlyingHighNow
I collect historic firearms and look upon it mostly as an investment. Most of them can't be shot, but they double in value approximately every 8 - 10 years.
My paternal grandfather had one full wall in his basement filled with antique and historic firearms. He also built replica Civil War cannons, steam engines and scale locamotives and train cars with tracks, from scratch. One of his trains is in a museum.
