Reversing Course

 I try to be intentional in life. I keep myself pointed roughly in the direction that I want to go. I am good at chasing my preoccupations. I prefer that label to obsessions. Maybe passions would be a more apt descriptor. Lets go with that. I am good at chasing my passions. 

People grow and develop over time. This can happen intentionally. It can also be a side effect of a ton of other factors in life. Because of that fact my passions ebb and flow regularly. 

For example, I started collecting Magic the Gathering cards in 1994. I stuck with that collection fiercely until 2007. I sold my collection in 2010. I started playing and collecting again in 2014. I sold that collection in 2017 when I changed jobs and stopped playing. During the pandemic I played Magic the Gathering Arena quite a lot. It made me want to put together some real world cards. After three years of not playing a real world game and now having dropped Arena, I am ready to sell out of my MtG collection again.  

The pandemic really got me thinking quite differently about the way I collect comic books. With my closet and office overflowing with comic book boxes I started feeling the oppression of collectibles. I have never sold totally out of comic books. I have been pruning down the collection for a few years now. When I was growing up I had a fantasy of leaving behind this treasure trove of comics that my kids would find both amazing and valuable. 

After my Mom passed and we started sorting through her things I didn't value any possession as much as I did the memories of her. With the exception of a few iconic things I wanted to cut down the clutter of books I would never read and movies I would never watch. It got me reflecting on the value of the clutter I had hanging about. Instead of imagining my kids opening dusty old boxes of comics and reading them with tears in their eyes, I started to see them having to tote box after box of comics that held no sentimental value to them off. More likely than not they end up getting ripped off on value from an unscrupulous shop owner who is maximizing their own profits. Worse still, it all just produces the wrong feelings for them. 

I still am an avid comic reader, but I purge the collection actively. Right now I am motivated to get rid of more than ever to reclaim space and a sense of cleanliness in my house. It is funny how that motivation doesn't completely erase the desire to reclaim some of the money I have in comics. I am very interested in getting rid of the majority of my graded books. I have a sentimental attachment to a handful. The rest were just a frivolous expense. 

I have run a bit of a cycle on video games as well. I have been mostly an omnivore as an adult getting all sorts of different consoles and gaming computers. More and more I push myself toward PC gaming. My current gaming laptop has provided me endless hours of enjoyment. I have come to enjoy having a digital library of games quite a bit more than having shelf after shelf of software. 

Twenty years ago I would have sworn that would never be the case. I wanted all of my books in hardcover. I wanted physical media for all my movies and games. Time certainly makes fools of us all. 

Today I was reminiscing on my once huge VHS collection. I had movies going back into the 1970s. At it's height I would say I had around 800 tapes. When DVD became popular I quickly saw the superior picture and sound quality and transitioned that direction. I didn't sell out of my movies quickly enough. I ended up giving the majority of them away in the end. 

DVD is still a valid format, but it is two generations behind the current standard of digital release. I didn't start parting with DVDs until I was no longer invested in collecting physical copies of movies. Digital certainly takes up significantly less space in the house. It is also a value add for that laptop as well. 

I think the cautionary tale here is balancing passion. Having 800 videos is really cool until you go to move. Having thousands of hard copy books is even worse come time to move...or dust. Comic books are a joy until that moment that you realize you read them once, seal them in plastic, and they wait there for you to die and become someone else's burden. 

In a lot of ways I think it would be really neat to be able to fit all of my entertainment and essentials in just a couple of bags. Paring down is such a challenge. I also dread the impulse to bloat back up in collecting things. That seems to be a cycle I need to break.