Collecting

Too much can be just enough.

People collect weird things. I’ve seen collections of everything from matchbooks to gum wrappers. These days, I am mostly trying to pare down and get rid of stuff, but I do have one collection that I plan to keep — baseball caps.

Psychologists say that people collect things for a number of reasons, including nostalgia and personal pleasure. I think those two categories fit me well. I have always liked baseball, and I have good memories from playing, watching games, and listening on the radio. I also enjoy remembering where I got these hats. Some of them were bought on trips, and some come from games I attended. I’ve also branched out into some that aren’t really baseball hats at all — they’re just the same shape.

Collecting can be time consuming. Some collectors catalog their finds, or sort them in special ways. Coin and stamp collectors are especially good at this, and collections can become quite valuable. My Dad used to marvel that some of the baseball cards that he got free in a pack of gum as a kid became worth tens of thousands of dollars. Working to organize collections can be educational and stress relieving. There are social groups that focus on different types of collecting, and friends can be found in people with similar interests. My baseball caps are stored in a box, and I rarely take them out, so I don’t get any of those other benefits.

Like any other human activity, too much of a good thing can become a problem. Houses have become cluttered with crazy collections. I’ve had therapy clients who began collecting and it turned into obsessive hoarding. Getting emotionally attached to stuff is very difficult — it becomes hard to let it go, even when it’s disrupting other parts of your life.

I’ve read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her focus is on keeping only those things that “spark joy.” Everything else should be kept only if necessary. She contends that this process creates personal growth and happiness.

I guess keeping your material possessions tidy may eliminate some stress in your life, but I know plenty of people who get joy from being comfortable enough in a place that they can throw their laundry on the floor, or keep cracker boxes on the kitchen counter. Or collect old train tickets. Everyone is different. Alfred Adler once said, “The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.“ I’ve found that to be true. So I plan to keep my idiosyncratic little collection of ball caps. Something about it makes me happy.