I can't tell if this is facetious or not, but be the person that they are. The whole rest of the person besides the obsession. Maybe with some extra freedom and time they can build up their other interests and relationships. Grandfather comment or so said the guys wife was upset with him. Without the piles of tapes he could replace "tape guy" with "happier relationship" and "successfully moved". Literally everything else about the person is who they are. Narrowing a persons whole identity down to a collection of objects is a neurotic and reductive take on personhood, in my opinion

The person who they are is the one who spent the time and effort to collect them.

The collection is a /product/ of that time and effort, not the other way around.

People who didn’t do this are someone else

> The person who they are is the one who spent the time and effort to collect them.

> The collection is a /product/ of that time and effort, not the other way around.

Does the person cease to be if the collection is trashed? Or is the collection just detritus from the process, something that could have been discarded instead of hoarded?

"Always be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."