Has life ever taken the joy out of collecting for you?

[RedRaptor]

Bit more of a diary entry, but I thought it might help to post this to get it out of my head, as well as if anyone wants to share experiences from rough periods, and maybe what helped them through or look ahead to brighter days.

Normally, my collection is a small piece of joy in my life. Something personal, something almost secret that I get a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction from expanding or completing. Whenever I get in a unique item I was missing, a very obscure finishing touch, or even simple things I enjoy, it adds a spark to my day to see them fall into place with what I collect.

With life events recently, lots of work stress, loss of a lot of personal time, and family issues, it’s been much harder to find that joy in the little things.

A few times in the past couple of weeks, an item would arrive in the mail- something I was so incredibly excited to have purchased, and very eager to add it to the collection when it would arrive- only to now feeling rather hollow when I receive it, and not even wanting to look at it as I feel I am betraying my collection in a sense, by not having the same energy or enthusiasm about it as I want to have. Now these items have piled up, unopened, until I suppose I can muster up the focus or the energy to engage with them with a little bit of happiness. Until then it just doesn’t feel right, in the spirit of things.

I don’t intend to be sappy and sad and spread bad vibes to the forum, but I’ll put this here as a way to put my thoughts down on paper and for anyone in the future who goes through something similar who may stumble across this, you aren’t alone, people can and do resonate with how you’re feeling and what’s going on in your life, too.

Thanks for reading, all the love and all the best,

Red

[genosha]

I hear you bro.

Pokémon is always the one taking the hit for me when the tough times show up.

I completely dropped Pokémon when my girlfriend broke up with me. Pokémon totally lost its value to my happiness when I had a burn out from working in a toxic stressful workplace. Pokémon always loses to my winter depression.

But Pokémon also always brings me back. Just a single card in a new set is enough to give me the joy again.

Recently, the thing that takes the joy of out Pokémon is me being able to afford the cards I miss, chase, want to buy to complete the collection BUT not able to justify and/or accept current day price points any more as a sensible spending within my monthly budgeting.

[eevee]

Look, im a pessimist so I know where youre coming from.

Recently though ive been feeling a lot better. People in this space have changed the way ive ethically thought about things, and the pokemon space in general has its twists and turns, but I have more hobbies, friends, and better mood when I look at what Ill achieve when I focus on the good, and block out the noise (im still actively working on that one haha) more no matter what community Im a part of.

[JoshsOddCollection]

I went through something similar recently and I completely stepped away from the hobby for about 10 months. If you aren’t enjoying the hobby right now, I recommend taking a break. The hobby will still be here for you when you get back - and it will be a lot more enjoyable when you do come back!

Sometimes we just need a break from things in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Take care of yourself and do the things that you do enjoy while you go through this rough patch Good luck!

[Josh]

Only the occasional existential crisis centred upon the fact that we relish and celebrate these pieces of colourful cardboard that some ordinary guy in Japan thought-up in the 80s/90s that were designed to sell to kids en masse by appealing to their less-virtuous human traits and capitalising on competitive behaviour and addiction, when we could instead be spending the time, energy and money on more fulfilling real life adventures and relationships; travelling, dating, enriching our local communities, learning new languages and skills. Particularly since we’ll all be dead soon and there’s no sequel. Fuck, these cards hit so good though.

[eevee]

Its almost as if every pokemon purchase we make, extends our life by 1 day. Thats why ash is so young still.

[Josh]

[Dyl]

I have only ever felt the opposite. Collecting brings me hope and joy when life is difficult.

If you are no longer finding happiness in your hobbies, you may want to seek mental health treatment. This is one of several major symptoms of depression.

[Josh]

Easy with the diagnoses there, Dr Dyl.

It could also simply be a symptom of the fact that people experience changes in perspective on life and what they find fulfilling as they age. Sometimes it’s temporary, sometimes it’s not.

[Dyl]

@Josh

Easy with the diagnoses there, Dr Dyl.

@Dyl

you may want to seek mental health treatment

@Dyl

one of several major symptoms of depression.

Of course - we don’t know the context behind OP’s thoughts/feelings. That is why I added a qualifier (you ‘may’ want to) and emphasized that this is one of several symptoms.

OP mentioned losing interest in their hobbies, feeling acute stress from work and family, finding it difficult to enjoy the little things in life, feeling hollow, feeling unable to muster up focus or energy, etc.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with my suggestion. If OP is able and so inclined, they should seek professional help if things become too difficult to handle on their own.

[Josh]

Tired eyes misread your comment - my apologies.

[vic]

It’s also the opposite for me. At my lowest points, collecting gives me goals, motivation, and also community in recent years.

[DarthEevee]

Hope you’re doing well. Maybe take some more reflection time this week?

[decoypalmette]

Just wanted to say that many of us experienced similar moments. It happened to me at least a couple times, often after a period of “over fixation”, or when I was using the hobby as a relief valve for my tough university life. It was a moderate burnout for me maybe, or just a normal overlap with other things that were going on. Who knows.

It’s easy to forget the original spirit of a hobby, especially after the pandemic, when it got harder and harder to not consider it a competition with other collectors, a daunting investment and a FOMO-inducing theater ready to crash/boom at the next market event.
But in the end Pokemon is supposed to be a pleasure, not an endless series of boxes to check, and life should always get priority.

That’s why a pause was the healthiest way (for me) to come back to my collection with completely different eyes, and incredibly refreshing. I wish you the best.

[squirtle1000]

Absolutely. I previously shared on here how my partner passed away unexpectedly. That was 4 years ago, and he was only 28. This was our shared hobby. We both rediscovered Pokemon as adults together. In fact the last fun thing we did together was open packs on Pokemon TCG Online. We went through a big stack of code cards the night before he passed.

To say it took all my joy out of the hobby would be an understatement. So I stepped away and buried myself in other things.

I was only 4 months away from finishing my PhD when it happened, so that became my distraction for a while. Then after that was finished I spent 3 months outside of the US, living in South Korea, onboarding at an international company. My first “real” job. When onboarding was finished I came home and my parents helped me buy my first house.

Achieving big milestones and having those new experiences helped me gain a fresh outlook on life.

For a while the hobby was in the background, something I barely touched. But I eventually learned how to enjoy it again, and now I’m back. I also remarried and I am now having fun introducing my husband to the TCG.

To summarize: everyone’s situation will be different, but for me it was stepping away and immersing myself in personal growth and new experiences that helped the most. It allowed me to slowly rediscover my enjoyment in the hobby.

[Vertemes]

Sometimes, but then I look at Rayquaza and it gets better!

[codytcas]

Me too! Pokémon cards are an escape for me. Looks like we’re the opposites of some folks here.

[jawsh98]

I like the quote, “**What you avoid controls you.” You noted you have additional stressers that came in recently, and if you’re like me, when that happens, it throws your patterns off.

I’ve personally bought things years ago when life wasn’t going as well, and didn’t have the “love.” Addressing your primary obstacles will likely help clear the brain clutter and get you back to your previous patterns. No timeline, just keep moving forward.

So to answer, yes, I’ve had the same thing in 2018-19**

[RedRaptor]

Hey all, just wanted to take a moment to say I appreciated all the responses everyone left. It was a very difficult time and I was having a lot of conflicting thoughts, so I wanted to put this here to see what perspectives others could offer. Everything from the empathy of understanding similar situations, to the polar opposite responses, it really meant a lot. It allowed me to

1. Accept that the feelings I had weren’t wrong or an inappropriate response to the situation

and

2. Realize that it’s supposed to be a light-hearted and fun hobby, and allow collecting to be a relief from the stress rather than a chore.

I don’t think I treated it that way before, but during that period I definitely noticed how I was leaning on collecting as a crutch to have a happy moment in an otherwise unhappy situation. It was healthier to put it down, walk away, and know it would be there for me when I could get through the slog and come back on my own terms.

I’ve been happily and quietly picking things up and organizing the collection again, I’ll post some finds and other items here or there, but first wanted to thank everyone who read or replied. We all have a journey we walk, thank you for contributing to mine (:

-Red

[Sofia]

Life has taken the joy out of many things for me. Most of the time the joy returns and I go back to enjoying my hobby or interest.

In term of Pokemon; the difficulty of finding product has made me less interested in modern sets. There’s plenty of cards I want; but I associate the last few years of Pokemon with frustration and over MSRP pricing. Not a good feeling.