There are times when I second guess my taste in cards and tell myself that I just need to buy MORE, when in fact, I need to remind myself that this site is NOT about building up postcard collections, it’s about connection.
There are direct swap spaces where people can go to grow their collection, and then there is Postcrossing, where the only expectation is that you will receive a card for every one that you send. I try to channel my creativity into decorating and writing. Each card is a fresh start and another chance to practice!
Me too - sometimes. I’ve been thinking about this since I saw your comment on this post. It has definitely happened to me in the past, and I’ve been trying to remember if there was something specific that helped me get back in to the groove of sending cards.
When my card numbers were lower, it was hard to stay engaged with the process, because at times I would be waiting a very long time to receive a card, or waiting a long time for my sent card to be received and registered, so I could send a card again. Do you feel like that may be happening for you?
Somehow during the pandemic and staying at home so much, I really got in to sending and receiving cards again more. That gradually helped get my numbers up, and then I was able to send more cards more frequently too.
One thing I did that has boosted my enjoyment of the hobby a lot is add a list of friends and family to my “postcrossing” pool of recipients. Basically just added their names and addresses into an excel spreadsheet, added a few extra rows for official postcrossing, and set up a semi-random number generator to pick who I’m sending mail to (semi-random because I only have around 5 friend/family addresses in the pool at any one time, and cycle through them so that I’m never accidentally sending the same person heaps of mail). It’s a new system, so I’m still tweaking to get the balance right, but at the moment I’m sending about half of my cards to actual postcrossing recipients, and half to people close to me. It’s nice because
it reminds me to keep in touch with people I love, especially those who live overseas or who I just don’t get much opportunity to see.
including postcrossing means I still get to receive mail (friends and family don’t necessarily want to write back but they are generally very, very enthusiastic about receiving, so that makes it worth it).
most of my friend/family mail is domestic, so that’s made the hobby quite a bit cheaper
it’s made me appreciate how much easier it is to write to a complete stranger compared to an acquaintance or slightly distant friend—even ‘difficult’ postcrossing profiles now feel like a breeze to respond to.
my mum knows to keep stamps for me, so if I draw her it’s an excuse to send whatever crap I like in the name of philately. Mums are great.
I now know where most of my friends and family live.
but they are generally very, very enthusiastic about receiving, so that makes it worth it).