Landslide - the Dynamics of Collections

Or how I got dragged in, and got out with the same method.
Collections are difficult in many ways.
They're taking up space, they need your time, money and in almost every case a serious knowledge about the things themselves. They are difficult to be avoided, and once you got into collecting it is even more difficult to stop. There always will be a new, fancy item which is still needed to call the collection complete.
As far as I can remember I  was always a collector.
Starting in small with Kinder Surprise figurines, Dragon ball cards, and Pokémon tazos (they were small plastic discs, you could get them as a prize with a bag of crisps). Then I took everything to a next level with LEGO.
When I was in high school I started to collect Halloween themed decoration, from candles and ceramics to any kind of miscellaneous wall or hanging decoration that the local stores had (the variety wasn't too wide, because Halloween isn't celebrated in Hungary).
These collections had a few things in common, like: they were small, they did not take up much space, even the Halloween collection could be fitted on one shelf of my display cabinet.
Then the teenage years bashed in.
Books, DVDs, CDs, comics, action figures, and various types of vintage ephemera and antiquities: medical instruments, apothecary bottles, candle holders, toys, postcards, sunglasses.
And many-many crafting supplies, scissors, paintbrushes, palettes, tubes and jars full of paint, beads and strings, boxes of thread, and bags full of rags.
It didn't bother me, somehow everything had its place, and even as cluttered as it was, it looked nice- for me...back then.
Did I mention before, that after my room started to fill with antiquities my mother started to complain about a strange smell? Which she only could describe as the smell of an apothecary or a hospital. I think that was because the antiquities usually came from a flea market and I was always eager to sanitize and sterilize them with various cleaning products I found in our bathroom...sounds as a healthy environment, yes?
So about the dynamics of building a collection:
Everything starts with one item you see, you find it nice and of course you purchase it!
When you bring it home, you'll often find yourself looking at it, holding it, or just thinking about it.
That's how the newly bought item becomes an object of obsession, and that is the very moment when it becomes the first item of a collection.
You are probably thinking right now that this can't be real. Maybe you're thinking: Not everything is collectible, you can not make a collection out of anything.
My answer is: But yes, yes you can.
I don't have to tell you that nowadays everything, that surrounds us became an object of fashion, an object of design. Things aren't made only for the purpose/function they shall serve, they are also a treat for our eyes, because that's what is important in our society. Not the sole purpose, but the look.
And in a world like this, everything is collectible.
So the next thing you realize is you have three or - even better!- five of that thing you started to collect, because as fast as the first piece finds its place, other ones will come in bulk. 

Like my Joker figure collection! It all started...god, when did it start?
See? I can't even remember which one of the figures was the first, but I clearly remember the moment when I had maybe ten of them? And I was so proud of myself as they stood in an orderly line on the top of the shelf.
 Good god the thrill of having a collection (back then we counted a collection from three similar object).
So this is how easily you can evolve into a collector, and if you aren't careful enough: a collector of collections, just like I was....
Because how many of those things and collections I need now? Better question: how many of those collections are still in my possession?
I am proud to write it down: ALMOST NONE.
When I first started to part with pieces of a certain collection -whatever they may be from antiques to action figures- I always experienced the same:
If you are a collector, you know that even in the not-nearing-the-completion collections there is one item which is only there because it's part of the collection...
You might think: How can any part of a collection be there just because the sake of the collection. Hasn't it all started with something you had a crush on?
And of course it started like that, but collections don't really work like that. There can and will be exceptions, but believe it if a former collector tells you: in the most cases a certain amount of items are there because of the sake of the collection and not because you felt the thrill when you saw it the first time. It is there because the aching in your stomach will only go away, if every item which can be bought is in your property.
So don't be silly, collections are not being there for you. They are there because of the joy of collecting itself. The thrill of the hunt, the rush of adrenaline when you find something.
Which clearly makes collecting utterly pointless.

So there are items which ones are there only because they're part of the collection. So when I started to sell my collections, I always started with the one item I liked the least. And that was it.
As soon as one item was missing from the collection, I found it ridiculously easy to part with the remaining items.
Just like landslide: It's enough to remove one little stone from its place and the whole mountainside will come running after it.
The feeling is deliberating.

As soon as you take out one item from the collection, you won't think about it as a whole, but as different items you have to get rid of. Just as fast as you got sucked in into collecting you can get out as well.
For who knows how many times it worked for me. Of course, when you meet the person who bought one item of your collection, and he/she tells you how wonderful a collection it was, and it is such a shame you took it apart, just smile at them and nod a few times...even if it feels you've just been punched in the stomach.

You have to remind yourself that you NEVER really had needed those things, and it's just the collector inside you, who shouts: How dare you, it was MINE! But he will get tired soon...even sooner, than you could imagine.

So you just give the item to its new owner, and thank him/her.