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Do you hide your hobby from certain people?

Jun 9, 2014

    1. I used to try and hide it from my hubbys side of the family because they tend to be fairly judgmental. One day, my mother in law sent pictures of my doll Instagram that someone had took screen shots of and sent to her (which was weird because there is ABSOLUTELY no way for them to have found it without literally digging super deep) and I know it wasn’t my husband who showed her. Needless to say, I didn’t let it get to me and now I’m very open with this hobby, I even post selfies on my dollsagram from time to time.
       
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    2. We are no longer living together now as i have my own family, but still...I don’t like to share much info with him because of his over judgmental personality...hahaha thanks for your understanding as i know there’s always some cultural or valuable differences between parents and children, but for some normal family they will not going to have such a huge difference, with my dad it’s hard but since we are not living together, things goes well XDDD such a bad bad kid I am.
       
    3. I think I'm just too old to let people bother me. It used to bother me a lot what people thought of me, and I cried myself to sleep many times in my teens and twenties because people can be really mean.

      However, I had some pretty difficult stuff to deal with in my life over the years, and at such times people commenting about any of my hobbies just sort of slid off. "Yeah, you think I'm childish for playing with dolls, you can write me a letter about it and file it with the other petty stuff I will deal with once I'm out of this crisis. Right now I really don't have time to deal with your issues." At the time it was a survival mechanism - I was trying to keep my head above water and couldn't be bothered to deal with pinpricks. But even when life calmed down again, the attitude stayed. "I just dealt with something major in my life, do you really think I care what you think about how I look or how I chose to spend my money?"
       
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    4. So far, the only person who knows me personally and knows about my BJD hobby is my boyfriend, and he's such a sweetheart about it! He doesn't think I'm weird or anything like I was scared he would, and he even asks about the characters I'm shelling and what goes into making a doll complete, etc. My family, on the other hand, doesn't even know I bought the two dolls I've got on order, and I intend to keep it that way until they arrive. I'm worried about them getting upset when they see them (I can't keep two 45cm+ resin boys a secret for too long!) but they'll just have to lump it, I've been interested in this hobby for almost 8 years and I'm finally taking the plunge. If everyone else in my family is allowed to have a hobby, then so should I, regardless of what it is!
       
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    5. If people ask me what I do for a hobby, or if they catch me researching BJD stuff on my phone, then I tell them upfront I customize dolls for fun. Some of them do get visibly off-put, and change the subject immediately, which I mostly laugh at.

      My parents are just happy that I have something I'm passionate about, and I pay for all of my dolls and crafting things myself, anyway-- the only thing they helped with is making sure our old sewing machine gets serviced so that I can use it for doll clothes, and that's because I asked them to as my Christmas gift.

      My best friend is a doll collector, herself! She collects OT dolls, not BJDs, but we talk a lot about customizing and face-ups anyway.

      As a lot of other people said, those who mind, don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. :)
       
    6. I don't tell everyone about it...I know which friends of mine will understand, and I share it with them. Nobody deserves or needs to be criticized for something they enjoy.
       
    7. No. All my family and friends know I'm weird person sometimes.
       
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    8. Once I got closer with my friends, I slowly introduced them to my dolls. One joined the hobby, the other thinks they are creepy. Now we just hang out in a different room. She knows that I won't give up my dolls OR the friendship, so we just work around it.
       
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    9. I don't actively hide it, but I also don't go out of my way to tell most people about it either.

      My friends generally know, some of them I'll actively show doll stuff but it's usually just to share a pretty sculpt or something I'm considering purchasing.

      My family is aware, but they don't know much about the hobby in general (except that I'm "wasting my money" hehe).
       
    10. I don't hide it, but my husband said it was weird to talk about it. So, I don't talk about it to him. But he likes to see my crafting. Why is it weird? It's no worse than any other type of collectible. I mean, people used to collect spoons! And if I hold a conversation with a doll, who knows except me?
       
    11. as someone new to the hobby, but not new in collecting in general, I don't hide who I am to my friends since i am selective already with who i'm dealing with
      if they ask, i would love to share, but if they don't then i'd still share LMAO
       
    12. Not really. I only hide how much I am spending on dolls from my husband. ^0^; But it’s always my own spending money... I just think he’d feel weird about me paying hundreds for a doll.
       
    13. I went to Nakano with a classmate and since it's almost an hour from where I live I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to go to the doll resale shop and the Parabox shop. She didn't mind at all and actually told me she thought about getting a doll but it's too expensive. I was pleasantly surprised haha. I also had some classmates over for a house-warming party and they actually thought Drugo was cool and then we preceded to drink and just have fun! I don't go out of my way to tell but it was nice to know that people weren't bothered.
       
    14. I'm fairly open with all of my hobbies, no matter how "strange" they may seem to someone outside of the hobby. I've told my co-workers about it and even brought some dolls in once, and it's kind of fun to see them learn different things about them (ie. my coworker today was just saying, "if you had to do X, but could get all the dolls, eyes, wigs,etc. you want for free, would you do it?) It's just so cute to me seeing them understand the hobby and be open to something that is definitely not their taste!!

      I do, however, purposely keep my hobby a secret from my dad. Last Christmas I had asked him for Amiibos and he said he felt silly buying his adult daughter "toys". I tried to explain that they were essentially DLC for games, and he just didn't understand. I figured dolls would be too complex for him to wrap his mind around, even if I were to show him all the clothes, wigs, videos, & images I've created using the dolls.
       
    15. Umm, I never really try to tell / share to anyone about my hobbies, including BJD. But through our conversation, I might mention my hobbies & some people that have interest on it, will ask for details & want to see the photos. Sometimes, they even want me to bring the dolls (if we're talking about BJD hobby) and show it to them. They tend to ask why do I choose this hobby, what makes me interested and so on.

      The reaction? It varies. From scared, curious, supportive, you name it. But maybe because I don't really care about the negative comments and try to have some respect / deal with them. I mean, some people are scared with dolls cause there're movies with possessed doll(s) or the scary looking one. Or maybe they have their own trauma. So, I try to put myself in their shoes and at least they aren't trying to banish my doll(s) or do other cruel things.

      I won't ask them to like my doll(s). As long as they can respect my hobbies, I'll be fine. :)
       
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    16. People that are close to me, from work, family or frienda know. I started post pics to my instagram and the response seems mostly ok, lots of likes. I have issues with my mom that doesnt want me spending money with It and people with kids, that usually want me to give my Dolls to their kids or psicoanalyse me, saying instead of playing with Dolls, I should consider having kids - as If.
       
    17. I find that most people find the BJD hobby rather interesting when i tell them about it, I personally use the dolls for photography projects mostly and i feel, that is why people accept that i as a grownup - not a little girl- collect them. When i do not include that it is for my job, people often think its a childish 'guilty pleasure'. As long as i do not tell people the prizes of the dolls people don't often judge negatively:clover
       
    18. I live with several best friends, and literally none of them even know I have these dolls. My partner knows, and she's pretty laid back about it. Since she's seen me paint one of my dolls' face-up several times, as well as take photographs of them, she gets that I have them for artistic purposes, so she doesn't think it's too weird. I have one friend in real life who also collects BJDs, so that keeps me from feeling too lonely in this hobby, at least. Other than that, I'm really secretive about it. I know it shouldn't matter what other people think about an activity that's harmless and legal, but I'm pretty sensitive to judgment for things like that.
       
    19. the only thing I hide is the real price from my husband and non collectors hahah XD
      but seriously if people are judging you they have way too much free time. Should move on and find better friends :) There's lots of people that would love to hear about your doll collecting.
       
    20. I don’t hide my hobby. I’m proud of it ^_^
      It's a hobby like any other. Many people collect something:kitty2