{"id":858,"date":"2012-02-01T19:03:40","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T01:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=858"},"modified":"2012-01-31T21:35:27","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T03:35:27","slug":"collections-when-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/collections-when-to-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Collections, When to Stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all collect things.\u00a0 It might be something relatively unusual or completely commonplace.\u00a0 Women have the stereotype of collecting shoes and\/or purses.\u00a0 I\u2019ve talked many times about my own collecting of media \u2013 books, music, and (somewhat) movies.\u00a0 Men have been stereotyped as collecting tools and\/or electronics.\u00a0 Stereotypes can often some basis in truth, though we cannot mistake that as truth or being even remotely close to typical.<\/p>\n

Collecting things is not bad in and of itself.\u00a0 It seems to me that it\u2019s an inevitable fact of living.\u00a0 We need clothes and shoes to survive.\u00a0 Often we need certain things to apply to different situations and occasions \u2013 not all shoes are appropriate in all settings \u2013 which means we all need more than one pair.\u00a0 We find value in certain items \u2013 my books are knowledge and other worlds to me.\u00a0 Also, we enjoy collecting things \u2013 there\u2019s a desire to have more of this or that.<\/p>\n

Therefore this is not about trying to tell you to avoid collecting things.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we cannot collect things indefinitely.\u00a0 There needs to be an end, a time and place where we stop.\u00a0 We need to recognize how this applies to us, as individuals, and there is no simple answer.\u00a0 Because of this, here\u2019s a number of considerations for you as you contemplate your own collections, whatever they might be \u2013 and you can discover where that place is for yourself and your situation.<\/p>\n

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  1. Sometimes it\u2019s as simple as the collection feels finished to you.\u00a0 This means you need to be attuned to that feeling \u2013 paying attention to when you feel that you have enough.\u00a0 It could mean that you have enough to cover those various occasions or unique characteristics.\u00a0 Then you need to have the discipline to not collect more.\u00a0 — i.e. shoes of different colors and style for your expected situations – although this does not mean you will no longer desire to collect more \u2013 yet you can choose to focus on the anticipation of getting more once one of the current items need replacing.<\/li>\n
  2. A clear clue that it\u2019s time to stop collecting is when you run out of space for your things. You need to decide whether there are other things that can go to make room for your collections or does some of your collection need to leave to make room for more.\u00a0 — I\u2019ve talked before about donating some shoes to make room for a partial bookshelf in my closet, and when I did this, I largely stopped bringing any more books in \u2013 I was aware of the limited space.<\/li>\n
  3. Are you cycling your items in and out simply as a reason to collect more?\u00a0 You need to examine your motivation here, if you enjoy the cycling things in and out, great.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you are using that as an excuse to collect more, it might be time to stop and look at what else is going on for you.\u00a0 Cycling things can be a great way to keep your things fresh and continue appreciating them.<\/li>\n
  4. Have you stopped appreciating what you already have?\u00a0 It\u2019s remarkably easy to become blind to our things, we are so used to seeing them, and we begin to forget they are there. \u00a0If the number of items is getting in the way of your appreciating your collection, you might need to scale back your collection.<\/li>\n
  5. Something I\u2019m not sure how much we think about as consumers is that virtually everything requires some maintenance.\u00a0 Are you able and willing to do the things to maintain your collection?\u00a0 Many items are meant to be used \u2013 leather shoes need to be worn and if you want to maximize their life, they also need to be cleaned and waxed.\u00a0 — I also think often of pearls with this \u2013 as they are meant to be worn, it helps keep their luster, yet many can be reluctant to simply wear them around the home \u2013 so we might not be maintaining our things as they need to be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You might have noticed that some of what I\u2019ve talked about might not be collections per se, someone could have one pearl necklace, but it is one more thing they have \u2013 is it being appreciated, protected, valued?\u00a0 These questions can apply to more than just the things that can be grouped together \u2013 all the things in our homes are a collection of sorts.<\/p>\n

    Earlier I mentioned that there is a time and a place to stop our collecting – this is an individual process.\u00a0 Jay Leno continues to collect cars, hiring people to help take care of all of them; I wonder how much he is able to actually appreciate this car collection.\u00a0 It also doesn\u2019t hinder his life apparently.\u00a0 Most of us do not have this luxury, and I do not envy him \u2013 I appreciate my life of relative simplicity tremendously.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve said before in a previous post, do you have a collection or does your collection have you<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s inevitable that we collect things, whether it\u2019s the standard things we need in life or it\u2019s specific d\u00e9cor. Yet there is a point when we will need to stop or at least part with some of it to make room for more \u2013 here are some questions to consider about your collection \u2013 from the multiple items to even the single items that make up your home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,8,19,5,17],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizing","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-hoarding","tag-household","tag-spaces"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-dQ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}