I came back into this hobby in 2018 and it was like I was immersed in a brand new hobby that I could not get enough of. I had goals that kept me hungry in the hunt to seek and acquire cards that kept me excited and driven in this hobby everyday, but as of lately, I have grown tired and have somewhat lost that fire and drive to collect.
I love this hobby with a passion, but it seems like I am in a slump mentally when it comes to wanting to collect. I had to step away from social media because it seemed that lately it was becoming pretty negative and toxic with unnecessary drama that I am sure most of you are aware of.
What are some things that you do to recharge your passion for the hobby and develop that love and drive that brought you into it in the first place?
I stop looking at/for cards completely. Give it a month or two and then look at my ebay watched list, because I always have gorgeous pieces of work saved there regardless of if I can afford them ever or not. It’s nice to come back and see what you were looking up to before without the extra junk of forums/instagram/whatever
I sometimes have days where the prospect of collecting doesn’t excite me at all, but I find it can be helpful to connect with people I know personally who share my love of the hobby, or even just taking a few days to do something else. Looking back at my collection and thinking about the stories that the cards have also helps
I recently went through a similar thing. I stopped looking for stuff, buying stuff etc. Still kind of trying to pull myself out of a funk. What kinda helped me was finding something else to channel my time into. For me it was tying to get a few home improvement projects finished.
I always take slumps as an opportunity to reassess what I’m collecting. Slumps happen to everyone, no one can be endlessly passionate all the time, we all have highs and lows in the hobby. When I’m at a low, I look at what’s currently in my collection and try and sort out what I genuinely enjoy and what I enjoyed briefly but I could do without. From there, I sort them out and I make a sell/trade pile with the stuff I’d like to move on from. I won’t pull the trigger on moving them for a few months, enough time to make sure I’m comfortable with letting them go. After that, it’s off to Facebook/ebay/PWCC to move them. There are times where I reassess and I find I like everything, in which case I just sit back and do something else for a while, be it focus on work/school or another hobby.
I think one of the biggest traps when it comes to collecting/hobbies is that you feel you need to be 24/7/365 on top of it and constantly hunting. Hobbies and collecting should bring you joy and be something you do when you want to do it. If you’re treating it like a job or something you have to do, isn’t that defeating the purpose of why you’re doing it in the first place? Having multiple hobbies is also beneficial in terms of balancing things out and not getting burnt out. I myself started collecting hockey cards recently and it’s been a blast and loads of fun. I still collect Pokemon but I’m not quite as focused on it right now. Things like that are important to make sure you’re not burning yourself out in any particular hobby.
It was kinda demotivating for me that my goals got increasingly expensive and therefore my progress got slowed down.
Recently I found a great joy in collecting certain semi-modern mini sets though, stuff I didn’t know before. It’s been quite the eye-opening experience for me actually. With Japanese exclusive releases from anywhere between ~2006 to ~2014 you can get an incredible bang for your buck. Nobody cares about that stuff right now, so prices are ridiculously cheap compared to vintage or ultra modern.
If that’s not what you’re looking for, yes, a break is probably good. The market has cooled down a lot, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on deals as much anymore.
I start collecting something that is outside my norm. For example, I just began collecting the entire Team Rocket Returns set in reverse holos. The new artwork is exciting and reminds me of completing my base set stuff
Post an ad on facebook saying you buy cards, sit back and let them come to you. You can grade and sell off the ones not up to par. I dont know how people could ever get tire of the satisfaction of grading their own collection. This is very passive and you generally dont have to worry about the market as you would be mitigating risk by selling off the other cards you dont want. And it introduces you to cards you would necessarily pursue. For example, i just got my hands on an almost complete topps chrome set with the rare variants… Now i need more MEWS
I’ll sit with my collection from time to time and try to remember how and where I got each card.
If it’s the case that doesn’t work, I like this list of things to do outside of the hobby: Talk to friends, play games, watch a movie, go to walks, write letters, meditate, enjoy something else for a while, stop looking at social media, disconnect from the internet, read a book, go on a hike, write, draw, dance, listen to music.
Often times the moments where I’ve felt myself burnt out by the hobby is because I recognize I’ve consumed too much of it and haven’t added enough variety to my life. There’s some people who can continue to reach variety within the hobby and aren’t in as much danger of being burnt out as much as the average person. For everything else, though, there’s the rest of life to help serve that purpose.
Reconnect with the rest of the world in some way. This hobby is but a small part of it. Enter back when you feel like it and you might realize how much there is to appreciate.
@azulryu nailed it. Usually when I feel tired of Pokemon it feels like burnout. I’ll take a break for a few days, and sometimes I’ll just naturally come back to it, but sometimes I do have to remind myself. My emotional reaction to when I remind myself is how I gauge if I’m ‘ready’ to come back, but I try not to force it.
I focus solely on Japanese and have not had any slumps or taken any breaks in almost 4 years. Awesome artworks, exciting promos, exclusive releases and reasonable prices. Even if it doesn’t do much for your nostalgia regarding individual cards, it should at least revive the childhood feeling of getting that cool card that would impress your schoolmates.
Whenever I hear people talking about this topic, I always wonder whether it is due to the English side of things being so wornout/lackluster in comparison to Japanese.
Go paintballing, drive a long way and go camping, live a little. Come home tired and enjoy looking back at pokemon if you feel like it. Keep mixing it up.
And yes Youtube, Social media is a bunch shit to me, hate it hate it, mostly money or fame drive, sometimes though you feel you have to do it to be part of things or to keep up but you dont. Remember the hobby existed before it.
Im also keen on weightlifting and gym work but the internet fitness industry over the years has pretty much destroyed my passion for it. Amazing what effect it has
I have never been in a slump since I started collecting again, so I am not sure if these tips can help you, but the way I do it is to always focus on an item you want to buy, lets say a skyridge booster box, start putting money aside by selling your extras and work towards your goal. There will be always opportunities in the future just be ready with cash on the hand when your item appears. Just this year I was able to buy two very rare items and had to pass on two others because I didn’t have enough money on the side. Maintaining focus and having goals is what makes the hobby for me.
