The fact that I haven't posted here in a week and a half is pretty telling. I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to collecting. After 3+ years back in the hobby, quite frankly I am getting bored with modern cards. There are too many sets, too many variations and gimmicks and parallels. 95% of what I buy ends up boxed in the closet, never to be looked at again, at least not for a very long time. Rather than being a hobby that I enjoy, it has felt more like a burden or a chore to keep up with recently. Even sets I wanted to collect at one point feel like they are just boxes wasting space in my card closet. The time and energy involved in my job, home ownership, family and an upcoming wedding have made it difficult for me to find more than a few minutes to read other blogs or even so much as look at a card. I am constantly behind in mailing out packages despite the very limited amount of trading that I do.
On top of all of this, my hobby is starting to clash with my personality. In almost every aspect of my life I'm a well-organized minimalist. I like to keep things basic. When I open the door to my card closet though, I feel like I need to make an appearance on TLC's "Hoarders: Buried Alive" (has anyone else even seen this show). Lately the cards have even been creeping out of my card closet, into my office and other areas of the house. What is the point of this ridiculous rant you ask? Well, I'm thinking about packing it up. Lately I've entertained the idea of ending (or at least drastically changing) the Shoebox Legends blog. I am tempted to part with 90% of my collection, either through eBay or fellow bloggers/traders. I'm not 100% sure yet, but at this point I am leaning towards keeping my vintage (pre-1980) baseball, a handful of hockey sets that have meaning to me, my Krejci collection and all of my graded cards and dumping the rest. Going forward I would collect just Krejci and graded vintage baseball and hockey hall-of-famers. I guess my point is that 10% of my collection probably brings me 99% of my enjoyment. The other 90% is wasting space, energy and giving me a generally uneasy feeling.
I will probably take another day or two to think about things. I may continue the blog, but use it to feature items I'm looking to dump before I put them on eBay, in case anyone is interested. I may cancel the blog altogether. After all, when I started out a couple of years back there weren't a ton of card blogs out there, and I was motivated and interested. Since I started Shoebox Legends there have been literally hundreds if not thousands of card blogs started, most of which all have something more interesting or entertaining to say than I do.
Have you ever felt a drastic drop in motivation or a desire for a mass purge like this? If so I'd be interested in hearing how you dealt with it if at all...
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8 comments:
well that blows...
and yeah, I too get like that, as I'm sure most do...
I just take a few days off, and get back to what I really enjoy, not what everyone else is doing.
Once I start posting/buying/collecting about what I really like, I get back in the swing of things.
If you'll notice, I haven't been posting about baseball a lot lately (if at all)
I was burnt out from all of the crap being put out. I haven't bought baseball since last year's Ginter. And I'm happier for it.
btw, whatever happened to your '53 collection? I haven't seen any posts on it in a long time...
Thanks for the comment Canuck. You kind of hit the nail on the head in terms of what I'm leaning towards. I'm hoping if I can weed through and sell or trade all the crap, maybe I will rediscover what I really like about the hobby and keep my collection and the blog going. At the same time I could probably reduce the amount of space my cards are taking up by more than 75%.
The '53 Topps set would fall under the category of things I really enjoy but can't find time for with all this other crap killing my space, time and motivation. I will be holding onto those for sure and would like to resume that series of posts, along with showing off some of my other vintage graded baseball cards. They are one of the only things holding my interest lately...
If it makes you feel better, I'm going through the same thing as you at the moment. I was actually hoping I could pawn off some of my hockey collection on you one of these days, but I guess that's out ;) They'll have to go to Canuck now if I can ever get to the post office when they're open so I can fill out that silly form.
I've been thinking of cutting back on the collecting, too. Or at least streamlining. But I haven't gotten serious about it.
I wouldn't recommend scrapping the blog totally. You do have readers who would miss it.
But going in a different direction seems to be the right move.
Go strictly vintage!
But yeah, I know what you are saying. I felt that way at two times in my collecting life and bailed on the hobby both times. What got me back in was a clear plan and focus for my collection: Bruins, goons, HOFers. One sport only. Now I feel reinvigorated and sort of the opposite of what people are saying.
I feel myself picking up the pace of my collection through eBay and shows.
I'd hate to see you give up the blog; hockey ones are my fav.
Back to my initial statement, go vintage. At the very least, vintage maintains its value and it's just more fun collecting.
i felt that way two years ago, now im back but more focused. don't sell or get rid of anything that you truly enjoyed collecting (favorite teams/players) eventually we all come crawling back or go looking for good memories
I think we're all going through that right now. If you've seen my blog lately, different facets of baseball cards have been the focus. The White Sox have taken a back seat, while I explore additional things.
Find out what makes you truly happy about collecting and start from there. Eventually, you'll get back into the swing of things. Every collector and blogger goes through peaks and valleys.
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