Should I sell Nostalgia?

[Culain]

I am currently entering into a bit of financial difficulty, over my life I have collected and played/read through HUNDREDS of video games and graphic novels which I still own many of. I know I will never read or play any of these again, but seeing them as part of my collection brings back good nostalgia.

 

Do you guys think I should start selling these, or keep holding onto them?

[MysterionMuffles]

it's up to you man. Is finding a job hard where you are and will it take a while to get hired or interviewed? It's tough to depart from the stuff you loved collecting, but what use WILL they have if not to generate more value in order to sell them in the first place?

[Guest Ethan Glover]

I was once a video game addict. I subscribed to the PlayStation Underground magazine and was even a part of a very "elite" forum that acted as a think tank for PlayStation, it has since been converted into a blog. I remember I decided to randomly give myself a challenge once. I would go one week with no sarcasm, no cynicism... and no exaggeration. The point is, doing so gave me a new outlook on life. My laugh became more hearty, I learned to appreciate the real world more, and I was overall happier.

 

In doing this, I found my conversations with video game people and what I call "internet humor" to be very unfulfilling. Shortly after this, I gave away my PS3 and the roughly 40 games I had with it. I was in the army at the time, and a friend of mine back home had my PS2 with 80+ games, when I got back I told him to keep it.

 

Today, I often see video game commercials and kind of miss it, but I know it's a destructive hobby for me. It puts me into a world of addiction where my only joy comes from non-joy. The sarcasm, cynicism and exaggeration were only one piece of the puzzle. Without video games I've learned to love education, I stay up to date with the news easier and still have time to read some amazing books that improve me.

 

So, I'd say go for it. You may find it to be a positive move. You may look back on it like the "high school days" but in the end, I don't think they're healthy. 

[Josh F]

Nostalgia, for me personally, is glorifying bad memories.  Like the 60's and early 70's is my favorite examples.  There are these cut together clips of hippies, and Vietnam vets and civil rights with some classic rock and everyone is like awww the good times.  I mean I've seen my dad get misty eyes over that kind of crap.  But o course Vietnam, the way black people were being treated, the weird cults and drug abuse aren't good things at all. 

 

Ever see those lists on facebook.  Goes like this "I was a kid of the 80s. We didnt all have cellphones.  Sometimes our parents hit us.  We played rough outside and scraped our knees.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Wasn't it great?"  Not  "Race riots, gangster rap, discontented youth, cocaine wall-street parties, gender confusion, etc"

[MysterionMuffles]

Essentially, nostalgia is clinging to the past. It's an F you to your present. I can't say whether or not you should sell off your entire collections or at least sections of it, but try to weigh out what matters more to you. Being able to see these things with relief that you had a childhood full of great entertainment, thus clinging to those better times, or doing yourself a service in getting some coin to get the things you need now. Food and shelter.

 

I would suggest going through that stuff and keep a few things you know you will induldge in again and actively choose what you know is simply nostalgia and wont stand the test of time. It took me a while to depart with my old Nintendo Power magazines.  I had a box full but I tossed it away because I don't need to read any news about games that were going to be released from...more than a decade ago, almost two. Yikes I feel old lol. I also used to have a binder full of shitty drawings of mine and even shittier stories I wrote (eventually I got better at writing while my drawing always stayed crappy) and out of a whim I tossed that out too. I didn't know what use it had anymore but to look at how far I've gone. Even without that binder though, I can still look back at stuff I wrote from even last year and feel nostalgic about how far I've gone.

 

I don't know what point I wanted to get here but basically you gotta be able to let go of this stuff. It keeps you enslaved to the past. Unless you really need the money right here and now, I'd say hold onto it all and just try to find a job. However, if your financial situation is very dire, I would not hesitate to get rid of stuff I know I won't look at or play anymore ever again.

[vivosmith]

I would say start selling off the stuff you definitely know you would never play. I have been trying do this recently, even if it is small things here and there. Plus I am thinking about moving for work and so the less stuff I need, the better. Minimalism is usually a good thing.