Can They, Have They, Do They ? (BJD's through hard times)

As an artist I've had numerous times where my characters have helped me through a rough time. They are the best and purest extensions of yourself and when I'm going through a rough patch, I turn to them to take care of me as I take care of them.
It gives you a sense of safety and comfort, you know.

And sometimes when life is hard, It may just be the best time for a perk to keep you fighting and help you to remember that all things bad do pass, but our best memories and dreams stick for years! Treat yourself because you will cherish that thing dearly.

 

You know, while I don't think isolating yourself and focusing all your attention on dolls would be very good, I do think it could be pretty awesome to join a BJD meetup group and make some doll related friends. Something like that I could see as being very positive: you'd get to not only play with your own dolls but experience many others, bjd people are generally super nice and friendly, you could get a lot of first timer questions answered one on one, and you might make some really good friends and have more of that all important human contact ^_^

 

Unfortunately I am far from stable xD I have a really bad habit of just raging through life as if I was on fire, crashing and burning everything around me and then crying about it afterward. Being emotionally invested is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you will distance yourself from other people. Consequently you'll try finding someone on the same wavelength as yourself and to get some connection. BJDs won't be that connection, but it can be a really fun way of releasing some creativity and emotions. That's what artists do, after all. If you choose BJDs as that artistic vessel, then that is great! If someone came up to me and asked "I am in a really tough spot now, I don't know what to do with myself. I was wondering whether it was worth it to buy some high quality painting materials and take up painting, what do you think?" I'd say with a bright smile on my face: "that is wonderful! Go ahead!"
BJDs are pieces of art if you let them be. You can design, you can paint, you can create a storyline etc. I haven't encountered a hobby that has allowed me to mix so much of my creative outlets before. If you let it be, it can be a wonderful recourse. Everyone experience the hobby differently, too.

Read, look, catch up with other hobbyists and imagine. Better to put those emotions into a framed creative image than let it consume you. That is my opinion ^^

 

I'm glad that made you smile

I have bipolar disorder too and it's in my family as well. I think you are quite lucky to have a pet dog by your side. ^^ I'm sure having pets around is very therapeutic. But if like me pets like dogs and cats can make you really sick (I'm very allergic to them), then dolls are the best alternative I think. I'm basically a hermit-lady who spends more time with her dolls than anything or anyone else and my life is less complicated that way. ^^

 

Of course! I hope you're well. Take good care of yourself. And there's nothing wrong with being attached easily.

 

One of my reasons for being in this hobby is it gives me a distraction from a high-stress job. It's necessary to have something that distracts us from unpleasantness or gives us pleasure to help us get through difficult periods.

 

I think that any hobby whether it be dolls, creating, gardening..whatever you like to do is good when you need to take a breather from life and just be..
I know sometimes I have to take a break and be a kid..and redressing/moving them around into different positions is a great way to refresh my brain and make me feel young again.

 

Normally I'm like Chibaraki - when I'm down I don't want to do creative/fun stuff with my dolls but I'm going through a somewhat stressful and uncertain time at the moment and having an incoming doll to look forward to has kept my spirits up.
I know when I've been really depressed I wouldn't have enjoyed dolls but hey, that's what prozac is for! When I'm just struggling to get through a hectic week or feeling overwhelmed it's nice to plan the time when I can take some doll photos, it gives me something to look forward to that's more positive and less damaging than just partying hard.
I've actually never really had a proper hobby other than dolls and althought it's a massive black hole for my money it is nice to have something to actually want to find spare time for.

 

Like many have said, any hobby that allows you to express yourself freely is a BIG help.

Personally, I think BJD's can help some people in some ways. My BJDs, my first one really, helped change my mind set. I had been in a depression (a number of bad relationships followed by a car accident followed by many surguries left me in a bad place). I had fallen in love with DOD E-an and in order to buy her I started selling stuff I've had laying around my place for years on ebay. The act of letting go of those old things to obtain E-an was symbolic to me, letting go of the old, the past, to move forward and bring in the new. Since then I have gone through my home (I admit to being close to a hoarder for a while) and have gotten rid of boxes and boxes of clutter all the while thinking "I don't want to keep my beautiful dolls anywhere near a bunch of junk and clutter". All in all, I'm happier, I keep my place much neater and clear, and letting go of things is no longer as hard. I use this to remind myself outside of my home, letting go of the junk and clutter of my past allows me to let in the beautiful present and make room for more beauty in my future.
Sounds kinda cheese and its BJDs helping me in a kind of indirect way but helped none the less. And on top of that I have been loving working on them, modding them, doing faceups, modeling them, making backgrounds of them for my computer....its a great hobby.

 

I would have to say...no. My dolls have not been a comfort or even a distraction during really emotionally trying times.
Although they do sometimes help me in times when I have art block.

 

I don’t solely rely on my dolls to pull me though a rough time. But they do help. Any creative outlet and/or hobby that you’re engaged in can have that effect.

When I’m depressed, I don’t want to do much of anything. Nothing interests me, not even my dolls. But it is much easier to make myself sew, face-ups, or just cuddle them then it is to make myself do many other things. And once I start working on them I can begin to pull out of what ever slump I’m in. But I also have my bf to help cheer me up, or my dog. But my dolls have the plus of never getting tired of being cuddled.

Also, at times I can get really irritable, and it’s much easier to be away from people for a few hours. I am so happy I have my dolls when this happens, because they give enough interaction but they are not really alive and so can’t annoy me.

The one thing that owning BJDs has helped me with over all else is the racing thoughts I get when I am trying to go to sleep. I never was much of a writer until I bought my first doll, but then I started having many ideas about their story. So, anyway, when I can’t fall asleep because the anxiety or racing thoughts, I just focus on the story and it calms my brain down enough. Only problem is I always forget new ideas I get by the time I wake up.

But these are all problems that just exist within my brain. So really I’m just using them as a tool to pull myself though. They can’t offer me advise, or really help me in serious life issues. But they are definitely a positive influence in my life.

 

I can't truly answer this as I've not actually gotten my doll yet but I can see that they probably will as a distraction and something to tell my secrets to. Animals had been my solace for this but in my move I've had to find new homes for them. The dolls are not to replace the animals (I'd bought the dolls before I'd known I'd have to find home for my pets) but they will probably take their place to be the ones to take my attention from problems for a few moments of needed relaxation.