I admire collectors who know where they are going

I envy collectors who know what they want in life, where they're going, and who they're with. I find myself stuck at the center of some convoluted crossroad with far too many paths to potentially walk down. Do I go left or right?
Do I collect silver or do I collect gold?
Slightly diagonally up that curved road a tiny bit behind me or the one that's a little uphill a smidge northwest of here but gently flows downhill after? Do I climb the treacherous mountain next to me and bask in the view when the hike is through or do I take that beautifully forested path whose end I can't quite make out?
I see some stairs over there and a paved road alongside a river that-a-way. What about that strange, dangling rope ladder or that curved stone bridge? Here I am at the center of a crossroad of my own making as my mind meanders down a million, infinitely possible what-ifs; creating parallel realities instantaneously and all I want to know is: which one will I love the most?
Which collecting path will bring me 'coin happiness'?
Comments
Reading the boards today reminded me of this quick story:
She lay in bed on her side, facing the wall. She felt her husband crawl into bed and wrap his arm around her. She smiled and kissed his fingers and felt his hands caress her body. Then from the other room, she heard him call out to her.
“Honey, did you leave the front door open?”
I usually have to go to other websites for that kind of material but ok, I will go back and read today's coin board!
...I started collecting coins in my late 20’s...now in my late 30’s I like collecting money...I like working on getting more and more of it every free minute I have while awake...Family First, but it’s time to bubble and stack these chips...start hella businesses and build an Empire...right here where my kids were born...I may try some extra real estate in my 40’s and spend it like I got it...I will jump back into collecting coins when I can play like a grown ass man...but mark my words...I will build a bad ass collection when I do...no doubt in my mind, only God can stop me
I always use Waze
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I blow of my last drop and heck GPS won't help you find me....
Got Happy?
...in coin collecting that is
Admiration is not necessarily.....
...seek'd by me....

Got Thrill?
It doesn't matter which avenue you decide to travel, as long as you're happy !!!
If any one fallows me around at long beach or any coin show or B/M they would say that guy is lost. But that's how I like it you never know what your going to run into. I Love to take wrong turns just to see what's around the corner, Some call it Nut some call it a adventure I call it fun. Crazy maybe but I'll have it no other way. That's just me dumb crazy Type2 turning over rocks. But have fun doing what ever you are doing or it's just work.
Hoard the keys.
It helps have a strategy.
Concerns such as stated in the OP are what takes the fun out of life. Just live and enjoy.... Someone once said - and it has been repeated millions of times - 'Life is what happens while you are making plans.' Just keep moving forward, enjoy every day, deal with the issues. If I had been concerned about pathways, bridges, ropes or trees, I would have missed the sunrises, scenery, laughs, fellow travelers and successes along the way. Cheers, RickO
I think the OP is over thinking things.
Collect what interests you, not what you think you are supposed to collect.
If collecting is that stressful, don't collect anything.
Most of my collecting is just coins that I find attractive and interesting. I like to look at them and say wow.
I don't stress it. I'm just easing back in and looking at coins that interest me. Not going to try to fill books like I did when I was a kid. I'm looking to buy very nice MS examples of coins I like. Just gonna have fun with it. Right now I'm bidding on coins of specific years, ie. 1944 year both my parents were born, and 1898 , the year one of my grandfather's was born (and my only grandparent born pre-1900).
I think most start out without a goal or direction and eventually they find a "path." I've remained a "generalist" for life.
The important thing is to have fun and limit your mistakes through learning. Heck, your path may start a new collecting field. When I started Mint errors were considered junk by all but a few, and there was no Hobo Nickel Club.
I am very new and super lost. At first I picked up some Morgans because they're really nice looking. Then I got some 1913 gold so I wanted to do the whole mint set but the 6 nickels and the S quarter really put me off. I may have a deal for an 1895 eagle so I may attempt that one as I also already have the half. Those Morgans though. So many choices
A government accident left me a former man, a potato. That photo on my profile is a low resolution selfie. I like coins.
Any collectables you may fancy will out-live your time in this round so be in the present and enjoy whatever your heart desires
I was all over the place until I started to focus. Then I started to thin out in order to focus. Then I focused more in-depth. Then my OCD made me focus even more. Now that my focus is so narrowly defined, I am really enjoying myself.
Two old women laying in bed-
one turned to the other and said-
I want to be an Air Force Ranger -
I want to live the life of danger -
Set a goal, you may never achieve it but it'll be fun trying to anyway...
Did the other old lady say anything?
Yes she did...
Same two ladies were lying in bed.
One rolled over to the other and said,
I wanna be a scuba diver-
Dive right into murky water-
Scuba diver, murky water,
Guts and danger, Airborne Ranger
Glad I wasn't there.
Ya where's the beef....
Hoard the keys.
Those 2 old ladies need to get out more often!

Start from the position that all of the coins in the world are already yours, but most are being held in storage for you by other collectors. Everything else will fall into place.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I am going to use this theory! All I have to do is look at photos to see MY coins!
I have a better two ladies story....

Ok now you have our Interest!!!
eBay ID-bruceshort978
Successful BST:here and ATS, bumanchu, wdrob, hashtag, KeeNoooo, mikej61, Yonico, Meltdown, BAJJERFAN, Excaliber, lordmarcovan, cucamongacoin, robkool, bradyc, tonedcointrader, mumu, Windycity, astrotrain, tizofthe, overdate, rwyarmch, mkman123, Timbuk3,GBurger717, airplanenut, coinkid855 ,illini420, michaeldixon, Weiss, Morpheus, Deepcoin, Collectorcoins, AUandAG, D.Schwager.
And abc123, try Google maps.
eBay ID-bruceshort978
Successful BST:here and ATS, bumanchu, wdrob, hashtag, KeeNoooo, mikej61, Yonico, Meltdown, BAJJERFAN, Excaliber, lordmarcovan, cucamongacoin, robkool, bradyc, tonedcointrader, mumu, Windycity, astrotrain, tizofthe, overdate, rwyarmch, mkman123, Timbuk3,GBurger717, airplanenut, coinkid855 ,illini420, michaeldixon, Weiss, Morpheus, Deepcoin, Collectorcoins, AUandAG, D.Schwager.
“A bell's not a bell 'til you ring it. A song's not a song 'til you sing it. Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay. Love isn't love 'til you give it away!” Oscar Hammerstein II
And......while a coin doesn't become a collector coin til it finds a collection, some with additional and higher qualities will look just a little better than others and cost more too. But usually happiness doesn't occur until you find that coin that looks equal or better than the last one. This, anyway, is what kept my boat afloat and on the right path.
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
Yes live your life and enjoy.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like big goldz I cannot lie.
I cant say where I'm going till I get there. But even then I don't know where I'm at. But it can be the best place I ever been till I find anther don't ever stop looking you never know.. just like the two walking there dog in the beautifully forest path that found the can of gold coins. You never know what you are going to find out there till you find it, but if you don't go out and look you will never fine anything new.... Just me dumb Type2 looking around.
Hoard the keys.
I follow what pleases me at the moment, and let what may fall in place to sort out later. Nothing is pressing. No deadlines, no commitments: I take an approach that is without any expedient care.
Your hobby, @abcde12345, needs to be separated far enough from any serious/mindful reality that provides your living. If you want to truly enjoy this pastime; don't cross the two, or, you'll end up perseverating over the same obstacles that are intended to bring you enjoyment. Honestly, is there any fun in that?
Simply, let your hobby lead you, and enjoy the ride. There are no lines to finish, just a torch you may pass on.
That is the challenge....
Those 2 old ladies need to get out more often!
> @Paradisefound said:
We want to hear yours!

My YouTube Channel
Well thanks. I can say I admire you too @abcde12345 in some strange kinda way.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Travel back with us to 1984, to a time when a simple question could spark a nationwide meat-craving frenzy.
Thirty years ago this week, Wendy's debuted their now-iconic "Where's the Beef?" commercial, starring Clara Peller as an old lady demanding more meat from her fast-food hamburger. And a classic '80s catchphrase was born.
The ad, originally titled "Fluffy Bun," was the brainchild of top-tier agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (also responsible for Toyota's "Oh, What a Feeling!" campaign), and featured three white-haired grannies examining a new burger — with a tiny patty and a huge bun — from an unnamed restaurant, the "Home of the Big Bun."
While the other two women admired the "big, fluffy bun," Peller wasn't satisfied, croaking the immortal query, "Where's the beef?" (Interestingly, Wendy's first tried a version with a bald man uttering the line, but it failed to catch on.) The catchphrase was a sharp jab at competitors Burger King and McDonald's, allowing Wendy's to trumpet the fact that their burgers had more beef than the Whopper or Big Mac.
Hitting the airwaves on January 10, 1984, "Where's the Beef?" was an instant sensation, spawning a series of Peller-starring sequels along with a raft of merchandise, from T-shirts to bumper stickers to Frisbees to a board game. Peller even recorded a "Where's the Beef?" novelty single with Nashville disc jockey Coyote McCloud.
The ad was credited with boosting Wendy's annual revenue by a whopping 31 percent, and made its way into the 1984 presidential campaign: Walter Mondale invoked "Where's the Beef?" to slam rival Gary Hart's lack of substance during the Democratic primary. Mondale went on to lose in a landslide to incumbent Ronald Reagan; the ad's director Joe Sedelmaier said at the time, "If Walter Mondale could have said the line like Clara, he would have been our President."
Even better than the story behind the ad is that of its unlikely star, Clara Peller. A Chicago native, the 4-foot-10-inch Peller worked as a manicurist for 35 years before being "discovered" in a local commercial at the age of 80.
She was 81 when the Wendy's ad debuted and thoroughly enjoyed her overnight celebrity: She appeared on numerous TV talk shows, made a cameo on "Saturday Night Live," and even served as a guest time-keeper for the battle royale at Wrestlemania 2.
Sadly, the relationship between Peller and Wendy's soured when Peller repeated her famous catchphrase in a 1985 ad for Prego spaghetti sauce (and then declared "I found it!"), leading Wendy's to terminate her contract for violating a non-compete clause. Peller responded, "I've made them millions, and they don't appreciate me." (Peller was only paid scale for the initial commercial, but earned tens of thousands more from subsequent Wendy's ads and merchandise royalties.)
Peller passed away in 1987 at the age of 85, and Wendy's struggled until launching a new ad campaign starring founder Dave Thomas in 1989. The chain actually resurrected the "Where's the Beef?" tagline in 2011 to promote their new Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburgers, answering the question with a definitive "Here's the beef."
And three decades later, "Where's the Beef?" lives on as one of the most memorable TV commercials of all time. Ad Age named it one of the top ten ad slogans of the 20th century, and it helped build Wendy's from an upstart fast-food joint into the third-largest burger chain in the world. Not bad for three little words from an 81-year-old manicurist.
I don't restrict myself to just collecting coins. I tend to get bored with things, but always come back. So, I have learned to diversify my collecting. I collect books, antiques, firearms, coins, currency, and other historical items. It keeps things interesting to have diversity.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins