Am I really part of the hobby anymore?

I personally think this is the normal part of the hobby life cycle. I drift in and out of the hobby - I'll go through periods of time where it consumes all of my creative energy, and then I'll go months or years without interacting with it at all. The truth is that we all only have so much free time, mental energy, and spare funding to do the things we love, and that means that sometimes, even things we adore end up taking the back burner for a while. A non-dolly example of this is that my mom hasn't cross stitched in years after doing it prolifically for a decade, but now that extra time and money is being funneled into reading, which is equally enjoyable for her. My BJDs barely existed to me while I was in college, but now I'm finally dipping my toes back into the water.

I understand about the social aspects, though. It's hard to make friends in the hobby nowadays since we're all so spread out across several forums and social media websites, and it's also easy to wander into the toxic, nasty parts on accident. I'm not entirely sure how we would even go about rectifying that, since the nature of large hobbies is that they'll inevitably have dark corners sooner or later. However, there are plenty of single person hobbies out there! You can enjoy reading without a book club, or knitting without a meetup group, or going to the gym without a partner, so why can't you enjoy dolls in your own, private way and still call it a hobby?

 

You can always enjoy what you have on hand and don't need to buy new. It may be easier that way. I wish i could leave all groups myself and just talk to friends, but someone always shares some new doll and i feel that old temptation

 

I am not as into the hobby as I used to be. I usually just keep my dolls on a shelf by my bed. It is comforting after a stressful day at work to be able to look over at my dolls and just have them there. But I too had fallen out of the hobby for a while. I haven't searched for a doll to buy in months, but bought one on Etsy today from an amazing artist! And I even got another of my dolls down and took some photos with her! I am a casual member of the hobby and that is okay. Adulting sucks and takes alot of time out of one's day, but it doesn't matter if you are less active. You enjoy bjd's how you want and as much as you want!

 

As a person who rotates through their interests in cycles... taking a break doesn't mean you're done and gone.