I only started collecting in February. For an entire year before I got my first pony, I toyed with the idea of collecting them, but I held back and didn't let myself get into it seriously because I thought I'd be seen as childish. I thought only my mom would ever understand, and I was especially afraid of what my boyfriend would think. But when a lot of bad things started happening around me this year, I needed something to comfort and distract me, so I let go and just started buying ponies.
It turned out that my boyfriend was actually really supportive and didn't see a problem with it at all. He thought it was a little odd at first, and he felt awkward going into the girly pink aisles at toy stores with me, but he got used to it pretty quickly, and now he'll actually go on his own to look for them for me if he's out someplace far away and I'm not with him. He buys them for me, he's watched all four seasons of FiM with me, and he knows exactly which ponies I'm probably looking for next.
I still feel anxious telling other people about my pony collecting, though. When my boyfriend and I went to spend the day with one of his colleagues and his wife in the next city, he told them about my hobby, and I felt really embarrassed. But then we all drove around to different shopping centres looking for ponies. They didn't seem to find it weird at all, and the guy told us that he actually really wants to collect Lego and TMNT. His wife remembered she actually had ponies when she was little too, and then he joked that now she's probably going to overturn the garage looking through every box to find them.
My boyfriend told one of his friends and his girlfriend about my collecting too, and they seemed totally fine with it. I've also told my best friend, and she thinks I'm crazy and says I have way too many ponies, but the truth is that she's also extremely jealous. She wants to take them out and play with them as badly as I do, and even suggested we have a "play date" at some point. But of course, she maintains that I'm crazy and have too many ponies.
I feel lucky that I've only encountered friendly, supportive people thus far. In general, I think a lot of people my age have the same feeling of not wanting to grow up yet and just wanting to go back to their childhoods, so they can empathize and understand where I'm coming from. And I also feel a little less awkward going into toy stores looking for them now, because I'm old enough that people may just assume they're for my daughter. But I'm still very careful about who I let know about it, because not everyone is as kind or tolerant. But even if I do eventually meet someone who thinks I'm stupid for what I do, I don't care, because I have lots of people who love and accept me no matter how eccentric my hobbies may be. Everyone else can suck it.
I feel for you where not knowing if something you are interested in would be accepted by eitherfriends or family is concerned. I live and grew up in a small town, so as small towns work people are always spreading rumours about someone or the other. I learned very quickly not to care too much about what other people say or think of me
