Unless you have
collected old lures and spent something equal to your net worth doing it, you
are not going to understand what I'm about to explain.
Lure collecting is
addictive. It's a little like a treasure hunt where you frequently find
valuable 'nuggets' in strange places like garages and attics. Having an addictive personality is conducive to
being effected by this problem, but anyone who becomes 'hooked' on buying or
finding the next lure has a problem as sure as any drug or alcohol addict.
If you get a craving to
buy or find a lure after a few days; you are an addict.
If you attend every lure
show within a thousand miles of your home; you might be an addict.
If you spend more on
lures a month than your home mortgage payment on lures; you are a lure addict.
If you visit Joe's
bulletin board more than once a day; you are more than likely an addict.
If you feel like you
need a 'fix' when you have not found or bought a lure in a while... you are
definitely an addict.
All joking aside, lure
addiction is a serious problem for some people and it can disrupt your life or
ruin you with severe financial problems. If you can afford to buy
anything you want and it just occupies your free time, then who cares.
But if lure collecting is harming you or your family because you can't control
your spending money or time doing it, then you have a serious problem and you
need to do something about it.
Want to do something
about your problem? Then take it from someone who decided he needed to
quit collecting and go cold turkey. Sell your collection. Sell
every single lure you own. Quit going to shows. Quit visiting
Joe's bulletin board on-line. Explain the problem to your collecting
friends and don't contact them again...ever. None of them. You have to
get a way from anything and anyone associated with lure collecting. If
they are really friends, they will understand. If they are just using
you, who cares.
It's an addiction just like drugs or alcohol. The
only way to control the urge to collect and buy is to get completely away from
the hobby and anyone associated with it because more than likely they have the
same problem as you. If you hang out with lure junkies, you become one.
It's that simple.
If you assume you are
just like a 'drug junkie' or an 'alcoholic', then you have to do the same
thing they do to get away from their addiction. Stay away from the
addictive material. Stay away from people who you associated with when
you participated in the addiction behavior.
If you don't, you are
going to go broke and you might lose your family.