I don't know if they say things about stamp collectors but there's one over here. In mitigation I'm of the dormant type, it's more about buying gifts for junior family members. Things to keep if the recipients are minded to. Over the years stamps have taught me a great deal: the rise plateau and fall of an empire; the changing face of Africa and the 'Rest of the World', the politics of the world and the truth and lies behind geographic projections. Like painting, drawing and other possibilities the stamps are there, imprinted on my brain as a possible thing to do.
As a mental health nurse I've come across many people (demographically predictably usually males) who have planned for retirement for quite a while and then when it happens the impact is a psychological sledgehammer. While it's also surprising to learn of the people who do not have any interests, you can also see how trite, inappropriate, insensitive ... the question of "Do you have any hobbies?" can seem.
That's because when you listen and hear:
the harried, hesitant, hopeless bound accounts of not knowing who is looking back in the mirror in a morning. Why am I standing there at all? Walking the dog, whatever the month, you see the crucial umbilicus is failing. The one that connects me simultaneously to myself, others, the world at large and joie de vivre:
then you know.
Then you listen and watch for the positive change working with colleagues. You look for the chinks of light that might show the darkness is perforating and the light shows through. Maybe then there is promise in hobbies and interests of all kinds. Keeping mind, spirit and body active, alive.
Maybe though - it is just being able to be once again.
individual
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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
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group
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| Dr. Arieti, Italy, pinterest.ca |
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| Einstein, stamp, ebay.com |
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| Australia, Community, Stampgallery |
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UN Stamp:
End Violence Against Children
unstamps.org |
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orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965