How to deal with change?

[achab1984]

I have also done this a few times. I have collected like crazy and had a collection of almost 400! Then something in me makes me lose that love for them and I sell most of them off but my childhood ponies. I want to say that I have done that about two times now. I wish that I would stop doing that! There are ponies that I miss and there are ponies that I forgot that I had till I see pictures.

I joined this group in 2006 and went crazy till the G3.5 ponies came out. I lost all interest in them and something make me sell them all off but 15. I had 400 at one time. I also had a G3 frilly that I ended selling off also! Kicked myself for that one!

Flash forward to 2011! I was not to found of the G4 ponies. But I thought that I would give it a try and then I got hooked! I collected them all and everything that was pony! That was till the core ponies came out in the G4 ponies and that was all you got! While collecting this time I had the big plush ponies. I had 3 feet tall, Rainbow Dash, Minty, Frilly and a purple one. I cant remember who she is. I also had all of the PJ pal ponies. Will I am kicking myself for selling them all but Frilly! Those are the ones that I don't think I will ever get back! And there I went selling them all off but my childhood collection. I had about 8 NIB G3 ponies left other then my childhood ponies.

So here I am again a few weeks again back into collecting. I have added about 56 ponies back into my collection. I am working on hopefully on getting a few PJ pals again. I would love to find myself a 3 feet tall minty again. I really need to stop doing this to myself!

I think it does not help that I also collect Breyer horses, and I do threw phases with them also!

I just don't seem to be happy and lose interests after a few years!

I will tell you don't sell them all off, put them away and try not to think about them. Cause that pony bug will come back!    

[himmie]

I often start to downsize my collection. I've been very close to a complete US collection on a couple occasions but end up selling off some higher-priced items when I feel like I need funds rather than ponies. Although I don't regret the sales, they helped at the time, I often wish I had continued working on completing my collection instead. The majority of my ponies were packed up for quite a while recently, until moving them across the country last month. I thought about them but didn't particularly miss them as I'd never had them all displayed. Now they're getting their own room...

If you're unsure about downsizing, pack up all the ponies you're considering letting go of and put them away for at least several months before reevaluating.  Sometimes it's enough to do a rotation of items so you can feel more attached to individual pieces, other times you really don't need them all.

This is always the best way to do it.

[Marlin]

I'm inclined to agree with those suggesting putting some of the collection away for a time. A few years ago I went through a couple of bad deals that just soured things for me a little. That evolved into "I have too many ponies" and who can I live without... Well, I sold over a hundred, without an ounce of regret... at the time.

It didn't take long before I rued the absence of several in my collection. Some I am still happily at peace with having moved on... I know I can eventually get them again, but boy, I do have some big regrets, and some of those ponies aren't easily come by or are rather more than I'm prepared to spend individually (I'm usually a very thrifty buyer - I have to be on my income/helping to support my family). Those ponies who I do miss terribly, I know I will come again - one day, but I do kick myself at times over my rashness.

So yeah, my two cents worth would be, don't rush

[Shaz]

Agreeing with all the people who said to put them away for a while and see how you get on without them. Interests fluctuate, you never know when your pony enthusiasm might come back.

Personally, I've got to a point where I'm actually not interested in buying any more ponies! Such a state would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago! But I still enjoy the ponies I have - in fact, I probably enjoy them more, and it's quite relaxing not always rushing about searching for new ponies, scouring eBay, frantically budgeting etc. Sometimes it's the pressure of collecting, rather than owning the things you've already got, that gets you down.

When I was younger, I was crazy into Ty beanie babies. I had around 800, and I just got burnt out with collecting and having them everywhere. So I packed them all up and put them in bags in the attic. A few years later, I was able to sort through them and get rid of most of them - but those I kept (I think I kept around 60), I was so excited to see after being apart from them! So putting a collection away can really help you put it in perspective, and find a compromise between "Enough! I will get rid of them all!" and "I must hoard them all, just in case!"

[Shaiyeh]

I also wanted to say, apart from putting them away - of course this is different for different people. There's nothing wrong with being absolutely sure you don't want your ponies and downsizing before storing them. Life takes its turns differently for everybody ^_^ I just wanted to give the perspective of someone who WAS sure, downsized, and regretted it. Granted, my collection was never in the 1000s... but a good several hundred.

Thank you all for your input! Squirmy and Shaiyeh, if I can ask, how many did you get rid of? Like, all of them, or just a few at a time? I can take my time with this, so putting some away is a good idea!

I got rid of a lot. Almost my entire g3 collection (which wasn't huge, it took up a double-stacked Billy shelf I think?), except like 7 ponies. I got rid of a lot of g2, maybe half my g2s + all playsets except one... (the remaining g2 collection is stored in a large shoe box + the playset-in-box. Gives you an estimate of how many), and for g1 I got rid of I want to say a bit more than half of what I had? + several playsets (I've kept one, again a complete with box) In two separate episodes of selling, if that makes sense.
The first time I started selling I didn't sell much, it was before moving in with my (terrible, pony-hating) ex. After breaking up with him I felt really abd about collecting for a while, they didn't bring me any joy (which in retrospect was proooobably 100% down to him hating on them, not letting me enjoy them one bit), so I got rid of a lot and packed the rest up. I also went off the Arena for a very long time. I think after a year-year and a half I started slowly getting back into ponies again. I've had several "pony meh" episodes after that, but just let the ponies be, or pack them up. The pony bug always comes back for me ^^'

But like I said, everybody is different. But to be on the safe side, I'd advise you pack them up or pack some up, sell others... up to you, really.
It's just such a pity having spent so much time collecting only to downsize & realise you wish you hadn't :/

[bright rabbit 1]

Same problem with me and my Monster High dolls, I've got four  Howleen wolf dolls (did have six but got rid of one, the other is gonna be a humanoid Eevee)

Use to collect all Monster High dolls till they started doing the rebooted ones (only got two of them rebooted ones). I've got some of my MH dolls in storage boxes.

Did have a huge collection of 90s Barbies till mum made me get rid of them (big mistake because some of them I can't get my hands on) I've started collecting the 80s and 90s Barbies again, I only collect the ones I need to complete the sets.

As for ponies, I'm downsizing my G4 blind bags collection. As you can see on the sales page of this forum. As for G1 ponies I'm only collections the ones that appear in the specials, movies and T.V series (only t.v series episodes that I like). Some I've added into some of the stories I'm writing based on the TV series. I had to custom some to look like their cartoon counterparts (dye most of them because I can't get my hands on).