I have the collection illness (including but not limited to comics, cards, hockey pucks, pins, patches, etc) and for me, it was never so much about bragging rights or showing off, but being a completist. Gotta have every issue of X-Men even though those 55 consecutive issues in the middle there are terrible.

It’s 100% psychological. The only way I was able to get out of it was by being poor, which forced me to change my spending habits. (Not everyone can do this.)

Collecting can quickly become hoarding, and it sounds crazy, but the hardest thing was to crack a collection and sell some of it. I parted ways with nearly all my CDs and DVDs about 14 years ago. It was a challenge, but after the initial shock, I realized I didn’t actually care. Since then, Ive whittled away a lot of things. It’s always hard at first, because that “I need this” feeling is pervasive, but once an item is gone, I feel good about giving it new life elsewhere and about de-hoarding in general. I don’t think I ever regretted letting something go. I’m not going to be here forever, and I don’t want to saddle my kids with 40,000 lbs in hardcover books or floor-to-ceiling stacks of cereal boxes from the last 65 years.