Are you collecting things or are you collecting experiences?

Rating: 5 after 2 votes

I had lunch at a cafe the other day, and they had posted a Question of the Day on their chalk board. I thought it'd be a good one for us to discuss this week.

Are you collecting things or are you collecting experiences?

Tags: question, silly

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Permalink Reply by Lynne Kenney on October 9, 2009 at 12:51pm: What a great question Megan. We are definately collecting experiences, trying to be present every day! Lynne; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tina reynolds on October 10, 2009 at 10:32am: Great questions, my family is collecting experiences, but we do have a lot of things mainly pictures to help us remember those experiences.

Tina
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Permalink Reply by Veera Hiranandani on October 10, 2009 at 2:15pm: Sometimes I feel like I'm collecting the experiences of buying things as I hard as I try not to. My kids' birthdays are coming up (three weeks apart) and between the paper goods, the party place if not at home, the food, the presents, the party favors I wish I could move away from all this stuff, and just celebrate them. But if I suggest something too simple they are getting old enough where they compare what friends are doing and feel disappointed. And then of course I don't want to disappoint them on their birthdays. I just always find myself conflicted over this every year.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Grace E. Mauzy on October 10, 2009 at 2:29pm: I do understand how you feel. There is such pressure to buy all this stuff to make a great birthday. But you really can have a great birthday without having to buy everything. My four kids range in age from 9 to 25 and we never went all out for birthdays. I would think of ten old fashioned games, invite a bunch of kids, have basic snacks with cake and ice cream- And we reused the decorations for YEARS!

The kids, and now young adults, always talk about the fantastic birthday parties. They talk about how those parties are the ones they really remember. So go for the experience. And don't worry about comparing yourself to others. Give what you alone have best to give. Your love and your heart for your kids.

PS You will be UTTERLY exhausted when you're done. That's certainly a memory to cherish :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Healthy Mom on October 11, 2009 at 8:20am: I think we are collecting experience. I know even my daughter feels that way. She collects christmas ornaments from all the places we travel. She keeps them a tree in her room we call the traveling tree. She likes to show her friends the ornaments and tell them a story of the travels. They remind her of all of our great family time. someone told me recently " today is the present, yesterday was the past, tomorrow is the future. But the present means today and it also means gift. So Today is a gift." Enjoy your gift today.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Melanie Laberge on October 11, 2009 at 8:28am: I am mostly collecting experiences. I am trying not to collect things and started to really get rid of stuff during my pregnancy. Nesting I believe they call it. Now, I am conscious that I have to be very cautious not to fall behind, and I keep on regularly sorting through stuff around. My husband and I have realized how nice and addictive it is to live in a cluster-free house. It definitely helps in better living and appreciating all these wonderful experiences that life brings to us, mostly since the birth of our son. Our focus is now on experiences rather than on things.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chrissy Jensen on October 11, 2009 at 12:19pm: Experiences here:) When we were a bit younger and earlier on in the marriage we did collect things. With each child things became more non existent as the experiences grow. Life is a journey and have experienced both sides of this question.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adveline J. Minja on October 11, 2009 at 12:27pm: I think you cannot separate the two easily because they overlap greatly .I believe event, people and environment shape and or change our experiences. That said I will put the events, people, and environment into a category of “things”. When you look at life in general, you will find out that it’s the “things” which give us “experiences”. Vivid example, is that you went to that cafe to have lunch, and while there, you saw this statement we are blogging (event/thing), and now you are “experiencing” all the responses you may /will get.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rhonda~ Is Wild about Wildtree! on October 11, 2009 at 1:46pm: Collecting experiences. Looking at every opportunity good and bad as an experience and taking away something positive in the moment.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by annamarie on October 12, 2009 at 1:42am: I am doing both...I am an avid collector of several different collectibles such as, Thomas Kinkade, coca cola, dale earnhardt/nascar, etc....and nearly each piece in the collection i can tell you when and where I was and what was happening at the time....the experiences of collecting the items is just as important and precious as collecting the items themselves; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Baba on October 12, 2009 at 3:22am: As an avid antique collector who truly enjoys the hunt I would have to say that I collect both things and experiences. The things I do collect are used to decorate my home and use in everyday life with my family. I agree that it's hard to separate the two for me. Yes it's true that some of the things that I collect or have might be considered irreplacable if lost. But I do only count them as things and know that in the end things don't really matter that much and I could always start over if they were lost. It's the people that I meet and the experiences we share that matter the most. I know and believe this in my heart. Knowing that doesn't take away my joy at collecting things, and I will probably continue in my antiques adventures.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Deirdre Smith on October 12, 2009 at 3:37am: We are collecting both things at my house . We need to get rid of some of the things.
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