Why I Collect Stamps

Last night my wife asked me why I was spending so much time working on my stamps when I hadn't looked at them in quite a while and I'm already working 50 to 60 hours a week. My immediate reply was that it was a relaxing exercise for me and that it allowed me to have absolute control and order over at least one thing in my life.

As I thought about it more, I realized I'm a collector by nature, but I really do like the order I can impose on my collection.

Can we spell 'Anal Personality?'

"Fortunate is the man who has a hobby, for he has two worlds in which to live."
-an able philosopher

"I owe my life to my hobbies, especially stamp collecting."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

These quotes are from Herman Hearst's book, "Still More Stories to Collect Stamps By."

"My immediate reply was that it was a relaxing exercise for me and that it allowed me to have absolute control and order over at least one thing in my life."

I've recently realized that's exactly why I collect, laswabbie. Because it's relaxing and is the only area of my life in which I can create a semblance of order out of the chaos that surrounds me... the things over which I have little or no control.

But there is nothing "anal" about it. Except for the stamps that have actually reached my albums, the stamps I've started accumulating are becoming another source of chaos and getting out of control!

The psychology (and perhaps psychiatry) of collecting is very interesting. Certainly the fact that your choice of hobby / field and your organizational preferences are your own is an empowering thing - you are in charge of this piece of the world. But there is challenge, and I think it is a healthy non-competitive challenge - to "complete" whatever you have set out to do. And there is pride in collecting, and showing / exhibiting. And (not really) finally there is the fact that you can master an area of global interest and become a recognized expert in it. All without ever having taken a course or paying tuition. That's a lot - if you are just assembling little bits of paper in a book.

Modern_who, that's the truth. I have so many unmounted stamps (thousands) I don't think I will ever get them all done.

Each time I start to mount, something interrupts and I get distracted. How do you handle it--or do you?

But each time I get a beauty in its place, I feel so gooooooood.

Yes, laswabbie, control. After 25 years in the IT/computer field this is one area I have complete control and perform tasks to my liking and my inscruction with out any complaints or outside interference. A nice controlled world all of my own making.