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warshawlawOddly enough for a lawyer (I am supposed to be thick-skinned and confrontational), what turns me off the most from collecting will be a bad encounter with a fellow collector or dealer. That's when I chill out for a day, a week, whatever. What usually brings me back is the thrill of the hunt for something else to add to my rather esoteric collection. Writing does it too. I get an idea for a card-related article (usually from spotting something interesting on a card in my collection) and I am back into the swing of things. Sometimes I see a card in a catalogue or on line and it answers a question I have about some obscure issue or fills in a gap in my collection.
While ebbs and flows are normal in any endeavor, I think that as you advance in your knowledge and your appreciation of the art of collecting, you refine your focus to items that really interest you from an artistic or historical perspective, and this contributes to feelings of malaise and/or energy. We all start out hepped up on everything and scattered as to what we collect. I found that over the years, I narrowed my "collecting" to a few 1950's sets, a few T sets, and the ever-present Exhibit cards. Everything else I bought with an eye towards profit. Consequently, I sometimes get disgusted with the whole $$$ aspect of collecting and have to sit out for a while.
Sometimes switching from baseball to other items can kickstart your spirits. I got into boxing cards several years ago when I received a Becketts mag with checklists and prices on some of the sets and have found that rather unexplored field to be the most fun of late simply because the cards are (relatively) cheap and there isn't a lot of knowledge out there.
I also find that collecting releases a ton of tension for me. When I am really stressing out, like when I am trying to get to sleep the night before a trial, I "count cards" to relax, planning my collection, and it affects me like meditation. Collecting is so far afield from what I do for a living that I can use it to completely relax.