Originally Posted by
Empty_of_Clouds
The original premise is not about whether our choices make us unhappy, but rather that being presented with too many choices leads to indecision and stress.
The best way to avoid rabbit holes is to avoid the fields where the rabbits live.
The fountain pen hobby is no different from any other. I took up photography, before I went back to fountain pens and the hobby is not so different - but n Photogrphy the marketing was more relentless.
The media - whether it is the magazines or any other is paid for by advertising. So, many articles are commissioned to sell new kit. You can't be a serious photographer until you have X.... So, if you follow the media, readers are led on a perpetual path of purchasing new equipment in order to take better photographs.
I came across a book of Henri-Cartier Bresson photographs. He is regarded by many photographers as a master of photography. His photography is black & white. When looking at a book of his photos, I had an epiphany. Even with his limited equipment, Bresson is regarded as a master. No-one says he's rubbish because he didn't take photographs using the latest kit. At this, I stopped buying photography magazines, bought a couple of books about taking photographs and read them. After 12 years, I've learnt how to take better photographs using the "out of date" kit I have - and no-one is complaining.
Shakespeare wrote some of the greatest literature ever - and he didn't even have what we'd recognise as a pen. Homer did the same, and he couldn't even write because he was blind.
I think it is very easy to get drawn into a cycle of accumulation in any hobby. The media drives new sales - that's their business. New products, that people buy, drive the businesses forward. Montblanc is still selling the MB146 and 149 - designs from the 40's and 50's. Compare that to the typewriter business. It's nearly impossible to buy a new typewriter, stencils and all the other kit that went with it because no-one buys them in sufficient numbers anymore. Getting an MB repaired is still possible. Getting a Linton typewriter repaired is very difficult.
I think the question any hobbyist has to ask themselves is - What will this new piece of kit allow me to do, that I can't do now.
With pens, we'd got different nib sizes, as well as Italic. flexible and Oblique nibs. Pretty pens can also inspire people to do more writing - but there's only so many pens one can use in a day.
I find myself gravitating towards the same 5 or 6 pens all the time - which means I've got at least twenty pens that do not have much "value" in my collection - but I see myself as a writer rather than as a collector.
Of course, it would be much easier if someone had said, "The only pen you need as a writer is a MB146 (or whatever)" I probably would have skipped half the purchases I had made. But wisdom comes from making mistakes.
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