Money is no object, except that it is the only object that gets you another object. Like anything we value, a certain price comes with it. Something sentimental could become priceless, like a letter or a family heirloom. Other things appear odd and rather useless on the surface, like bottle caps or ticket stubs. The fine line between hoarder and collector is somewhere between the eye of the beholder and the critic outside the beholder's gaze. Something has to be said about the devotion and necessity behind collections.
Every month at eight-years-old, I would scour the reclusive corners of dime stores and grocery chains holding rows and shelves of trading card games. The artistic packaging drew me in and I knew one of them had to hold a rare, holographic card worth having in your towers of decks back home. Even though all the cellophane was labeled the same, the magic eight ball mindset in me kept buying and ripping open every card pack I could get before the next kid took "the one" before me. Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! were the contenders of the early collector in me, so I bought each one in bulk.
With all these cards to sort through for that prized, winner of a card, the hobby and game started to play me. I did not need all these cards, just the card I wanted. It is a gamble spending almost all of your allowance money growing up, especially in a half hour trip to the store, Supply and demand hit me faster than a Yu-Gi-Oh! Trap Card and a holographic Charizard.
What did it mean to have duplicates of the same card to go through only to have that one card that mattered more than the rest? Collecting became a hobby I was less than satisfied with very quickly. I never knew what a collection's purpose was.
It was one thing to be the kid with thousands of trading cards but it meant another to be that kid with too many trading cards. I did not know what was worth having or keeping in my growing piles of square pieces of art. Art found in a trading card game? That was unheard of but an original thought at my age. So while I stopped purchasing more Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon cards, I became more selective with the cards that had an artistic value for me. Soon enough, I was not playing the trading card game; I created my own rules of the game instead.
Collectors look at their collections as a conglomerate of creativity, whether those things are related or exactly the same.
They think of their cornucopias as a feast for the eyes, a historical preservation project, or just an honest hobby.
Having a collection is a labor of love; it can take a lot of maintenance and sorting to make it plausible. Looking back at it all, on a wall, in a display case, or in an entire room dedicated to the plethora, the spectacle was well worth having from the start.
No collections are ever the same as the next and they do not have a one size fits all. Whatever the collection becomes it eventually becomes an extension of the collector. The care and attention to the things collected is a testament not to the knee-jerk reactionary purchases, but to the emotions and meanings, these things inspire in the collector and the viewer.
One man's trash is another man's treasure and sometimes trash and treasure are not so exclusive.
5 Respectful And Empowering Ways To Handle Rejection
Not everyone will like you, but not everyone has to.
You work hard, you do the right thing, and the inevitable happens. Someone comes along and begins to give you a backhanded compliment, or if you have the misfortune, a backhanded comment. You are left with a bad taste in your mouth and your day starts to turn sour. When people belittle you and your efforts, here are five respectful and empowering ways to sweeten those moments of rejection.
1. Never give someone a reason to not like you.
cdn.pixabay.com
People will say what they want and think what they want, no matter the subject or person of choice. It will not matter who you are or what you do, someone or another manages to pay you their two cents. You have to remember, you did not give them reasons to justify their words or actions towards you. These people who exhibit unwarranted thoughts about you are just another drop in the ocean. They do not define your good intentions or self-worth. They are not for you and you need not place any investigation or worry into the mystery of why they do not like you. You do not have to reason with them any further. Simply look forward to the people who care to be curious and open-minded about you.
2. Kill them with kindness.
upload.wikimedia.org
The dead push up daisies, but you plant the seed. Some people will smile proudly knowing they have said something cruel or disheartening to get a rise out of you but look at this as an opportunity. Every moment is a chance for you to choose how you react. Ten percent of life is what happens to you, it is out of your control. Ninety percent of life is what you do about it. Use your words to encourage, not discourage, civil discourse. Say what matters and say it with an honest purpose. State your case and let them respond how they will; you cannot control others, but you can control yourself. Be a good example others have yet to show themselves.
3. Turn the "No's" into a "Yes."
cdn.pixabay.com
The poet Sylvia Plath had this to say about rejection: "I love my rejection slips. They show me I try." She was talking about the process of writing literary submissions for publication, but her attitude still stands. This is the mindset it takes to find the success you want out of life. Despite all the people that deny you and your work, there are people that see potential and promise in you. It does not matter how many people say "No" to you. What does matter is the number of times you can get back to work and look forward to that one "Yes." You are working for the "Yes's" in your life. Forget the dream-killers and eye-rollers, they lack the hope and drive you have in what you do. They do not do what you do and do not do it like you do. For every "No" there is a "Yes."
4. Let your work speak for you.
upload.wikimedia.org
Sometimes no matter how endearing your elevator pitch sounds or how carefully crafted your resume is, people still find fault where there might not even be any. Your accomplishments are your own and that is something to take pride in. Of course, the right amount of pride separates you from the rest and for the better. Pride and confidence must not become virtues or vices that exceed who you are. The work you put out is an extension of who you are and no one can take that away from you. Work speaks for itself and yourself best, so focus on your goals and let your results stand in for your words people did not value. Your best is rarely seen at the moment of inspiration, usually after the final stroke of the brush has wet the canvas. It is your goal to show that stalwart work ethic in good times and in bad.
5. Your process will protect you.
cdn.pixabay.com
Keep working. Rule out the distractions and the doubts, the fears, and the flippant fools. Know that your process will save you in trying times. Work against all odds. At some point, things turn even and add up, but you have to be dedicated and diligent. Your sights are seen only through your eyes and your need is to show others what you see. Until then, your skill, your talent, will be honed with consistency. Show up to your work even when you have not been hit with inspiration. The Kodak moment will present itself through your process. Due diligence is the price of success. Eyes on the prize and nose to the grindstone. No one knows your work better than you.
Be the trampoline that bends the will of gravity-like rejection long enough until you can fly.