Does this hobby *really* teach us patience?

Hmmm. I already had a sense of patience when I was younger, so I can't say that the hobby has taught me that per se. But! It has definitely also encouraged patience for me. It used to be a lot more difficult to obtain BJDs and it also took a lot longer even to get a standard release. However, I find production times are a lot quicker now so it's easy to become accustomed to that and, as a result, maybe being less patient (I know I do this at times). But then I kick myself and remind myself how things used to be. XD

 

I believe that it is teaching me patience. Before I ordered my boy I didn't know how I would be able to wait more than a month for him. It's been almost fifteen working days since and I haven't died yet so I guess that's a good sign.

 

I don't think this hobby really teaches patience. If anything, it teaches the opposite. Firstly, although the dolls themselves can take a long time to get here (Then again, I've never wited longer than six weeks for a doll) when they do arrive, they can be basically "complete" dolls. They can have their wig, their eyes, their clothes, their faceup. You can send them off to other artists to be customised, or buy new clothes for them with the click of a button. Of course, it all takes time to arrive, so you go looking around. You buy a second doll, and clothes for it, and start dreaming about its new faceup. You take a photo of your existing doll, and you've nearly immediately got a picture of something beautiful.

Eventually, you've always got something in the post, something freshly arrived, and something nearly complete. It's instant gratification, only you select what kind of instant gratification you want in advance.

 

I don't think this hobby necessarily teaches patience. You can wait for something impatiently regardless of the length of wait. Also, one can easily buy a doll second hand, circumventing the wait time. Some people may have developed more patience through this hobby, but I don't think it's the majority.

I've always been a fairly patient person, happy to wait for something. I don't think this hobby has made me any more patient than I already was.

 

I am perfectly fine with the patience of waiting for a doll once he's ordered. I have the mental note that he's coming and the day he comes will most likely be such a surprise to me XD.

But where my patients issue comes in and I bet for many others is the money part. Especially when it comes to limiteds. Can I be patient and save the money and hope he's still available or should I be impatient and do it now and suffer the money consequences (for me just going over budget... nothing all to drastic).

 

I learned patience the hard way... and not with this hobby. So by the time I actually got around to BJD's I was ready for the long waits. I guess if I didn't have patience before getting into this hobby, I'd have to have some by now. If only out of sheer self-preservation. I'm not the kind of person that can exist in a constant state of anything. I get too distracted by other things, and forget what I'm so impatient about to begin with.

 

BJD waiting is actually one of the few things I am NOT patient about. Surprisingly, I think making a hybrid has really helped me out, though. Since I'm having to put her together, most of her parts are arriving in a fast amount of time, so I am not even focusing on her body being on layaway or the fact that once her head is complete she'll need to be sent off for a face-up. Right now I am happy that I have her faceplate and eyes, her wig will soon be ordered, her headback should be here any day now, and one part of the layaway has already been paid off. Usually I have all the extras ready and the wait for the doll itself is miserable.

Of course, this time around I also have a boyfriend that keeps me on my toes, so my mind isn't completely on the hobby. :p

 

Agreeing with the person who said that this hobby doesn't really teach you patience, but shows you how you'll deal with waiting. If anything, this hobby functions as a mirror.

Personally I'm very patient when it comes to having to wait for something. I can take years to finish a project of any kind and it doesn't bother me. With people, however, I am a lot less lenient. And this hobby hasn't taught me to cut them some slack yet .

 

If anything this hobby has made me even more impatient. I've always had trouble with patience, I get annoyed when I have to wait 10 minutes for a train to arrive and I check the mail obsessively when I order something I'm really excited about.

BJDs haven't changed any of that and it only adds more things for me to wait for.

 

I can relate to some of the points, but not all.
However, bjd collecting showed me what could be gained if was more patient. That after five years as a collector. Since I have never been in a situation where i actually need to save money for very long before I could buy, it made it too easy for me to buy the dolls I wanted without thinking very deeply about it. The result being that I owned so many dolls and I could not connect to a single one of them, no matter how much I liked them and found them beautiful. It has certainly been an expensive lesson, but somehow "it" opened up and I realized how many sources there are for getting an idea what I could bond to, not just use my previous way of choosing dolls. And how much I could learn about myself through the process. The method i previously used when deciding on a doll if I liked the enough doll visually, that is was "beautiful". I see now that I didn't even consider other factors. And I've never been considered as shallow (that I know of, but I do now have my doubts). I have connected with totally different types of bjds than before. That process have really opened up my eyes. As a result I've stopped buying stuff before the doll arrives. I need to experience the doll before I get a feeling about their personalities. It was in fact reading about the things you share, your worlds of bjds, in this forum that finally opened my eyes.

I do have one wish, though. I wish that more bjd collectors would be as patient when it comes to educating themselves about the rights they have as bjd customers, as they are with other aspects of the hobby.
I ended up with one foot in the creative camp and the other in the academic. As a newbie on DoA, but a collector of bjds for years, I think we need to stop excuse people of in cases of extreme liability, because of them being an artist and therefore they have an "artistic" personality type. We pay a lot for our dolls and we should expect to be treated with the same professionalism buyers of other products are almost born to expect, objects of art included. In fact, we disrespect those who work at maintaining and improving the way they do business by not even expressing the tiniest bit of concern when sometimes goes wrong. (It goes without saying that we stay away from flaming someone, and use proper language.) I've noticed the high standard that is expected here at the marketplace with great interest. I think the marketplace is fabulous. If only we could expect the same standard when dealing with professionals.

 

It has certainly taught me patience! Even more so than having kids. I am, by nature, a very impatient person, but I've learned to just be mellow and let things roll as they will because of this hobby.

 

Honestly, I doubt it. Waiting for a doll teaches patience no better than a long wait in traffic or a chronic shortage of your favorite ice cream at the grocery store. (Grr...)

Being forced to wait is merely you experiencing a delay. Patience is a state of mind--how you react to this delay.

 

I agree with the notion that you have to teach yourself patience. If you don't practice, all you will do is run around in a panic while you wait, no matter how many times you go through the process.

You have to sit down and reflect on your actions and really tell yourself, "I CAN be patient!" and then force yourself to not be impatient. That's all it really takes.

I grew up on a farm with cows, and believe me, cows are stupid animals that can really test your patience. My dad and my brother would sometimes fly off the handle and scream at them, and there were times where I almost did as well, but I took a breath and told myself to stop. It gets easier over time the more you just stop and breathe and reflect over your actions.

But if you do not do this you will not get any better, and waiting for a doll will always drive you crazy.

 

I think what I am in the process of learning is not so much being patient as it is forgetting how impatient I actually am. It's teaching me (productive) ways of distracting myself, and lasting distractions. I've personally never been a very patient person. I've always loved, for example, the tongue-in-cheek prayer of "lord grant me patience, and grant me it NOW!" but with a doll with an extensive wait time, I find myself having to find distractions that take up more time than if I were attempting to distract myself from a party next week or similar... As soon as I remember that I have x number of days to go, I find myself just as impatient as I was before, but I am getting better at pushing it from my mind for longer periods of time...

 

In my own opinion everything that involves the hobby depends on you. Sometimes these hobby/ies just bring out this 'everything' I'm talking about.

Take for example, Patience.
If you think you lack patience to wait for something - doll,clothes, accessories etc. - and still buy them, you'd still be waiting for it eventhough it takes long.

 

Yes, I can say that this hobby is teaching me patience. Sincerely.
Patience because they are answering your questions and then they answer in Engrish and you have to re-ask to understand, they are planning it, they are making it, they are not sending it on time, and you have to save money to even start the described above process.
Dollie clothes are taking such a long time to make too, well, ya'll know all that.
I really feel that I'm more patient in other areas of my life now.

 

It's a good way to teach patience, yes. I'm actually pretty patient, especially since I usually have to wait 2 weeks for my cosplay wigs, as I'm a cosplayer and I also do sewing which also requires patience. So I already have it but this hobby has strengthened my patience a little more. I'm in my 15th week wait and hopefully my last week before my first doll gets shipped out to the U.S. and then from there to me. Doing a ton of research and taking my time to come up with a whole look for my doll also took some time to figure out. Faceups are also something that one has to be patient with. So, yes, I'd have to agree that this hobby requires a ton of patience and if one doesn't have it, it teaches them to be. ^^

 

In some ways yes, in other ways, no. At the beginning when you are waiting on your first few dolls and goodies, you are really impatient. I know I was, and it just got worse. But after a while and a few packages later, i got more patient. I realized worrying about it didn't help. But yes, at the beginning it is the worse.

 

excuse the following language but hell yes, this hobby taught me patience!!!