Dolls being your crutch - (Dolls and support)

I live by myself now that my best friend moved out and to another state to be with her boyfriend. And it doesn't help that she was my support to get out and meet people.My dolls tend to help ease that lonely felling a little and helps with my anxiety abiout people. Ever since I started collecting I been posting my new girls on facebook and tumblr to show my friend and I don't care if my family or coworkers see anymore. But yeah having my girls just sitting pretty when I get home after a long day at work is nice. Seeing their smiling faces makes going to work a little bit easier.

 

I'm not sure if this is quite what you have in mind, but my dolls have been the support that I needed to challenge myself in sewing.

At my school, nobody sewed, and in my area the only people at the fabric stores were very old and solely interested in quilting. I got into historical recreation in high school, but I had no means to display or wear the costumes. It also takes considerably longer to sew something in human scale.

I became more involved in the bjd hobby just as I was considering dropping my sewing hobby. Luckily, bjds encouraged me to stick with it. I like stalking bjd sewers on the internet and learning to sew in a smaller scale--in some ways, it is a lot more challenging. It's also easier to show my bjd clothes to others because it's not such a hassle to carry around a doll with a dress than to wear one myself.

 

I have a very stressful and demanding job. Dolls are a way for me to relax and do something calm and quiet as a break from the pressure of work.

 

Dolls are helping me with emptying nest syndrome! I can buy them shoes and sew for them without holding on too tightly to the adults I have to launch into the world. And it's creative too which is a real stretch in my life.

 

I used to feel very, very helpless at times. I have found several ways to cope with that whenever it crops up - horses, for instance, make me feel strong, honored and confident that something so powerful likes and obeys me. But there were also times when physically I was not up to riding, and dolls filled that gap. It's all about putting ultimate control in my hands. I may have a bit of a god complex.

Those around me seem to understand, or tolerate, at least. Pretty sure my mother still thinks it's weird to see me just... sitting... fiddling with Uriah's arms. Moving his hair around. Making faces at him. I'm the type of person who is hesitant to rely too much on anything exterior to my own psyche, but after a long day, why not? Small, beautiful things just ease my blood pressure, it's like a switch in my brain.

 

I live alone and as an artist spend a huge amount of my time making art or reading about it and my dolls get ignored. During the winter especially I often get depressed and go into a funk where I'm just watching TV and my other interests drop off. At these times I bring my dolls out with me and sometimes they are just there to keep me company in the room but eventually I start to dress them and take photographs of them and as we interact my creative juices get flowing again. There's a deep history of dolls serving a great amount of purposes in peoples lives. For myself they can be therapeutic and they help spur creativity. The work I do with them, the stories I wrote, photos etc, is completely different from my general art practice which is more theoretical. I make things for them and that hands on work makes me bond with them and I feel that interaction feeds the other parts of my life. My friends don't get it but most of them don't have the same sort of interiority that I do. My dolls and I go in cycles and though sometimes I feel that I don't play with them enough, or at least as much as I should for as many as I have. But this is year three of them pulling me out of the dumps and so I think they're worth it. But since I was little I've always been a day dreamer and imaginative person which is probably another reason for their appeal.....

 

It's great to hear that dolls are helping us in so many ways!

In my case, I HATE writing reports for my work and try to find any way at all to procrastinate. I find if I sit one of my girls next to my computer I have something cute to look at when I get tired of staring at the screen and it keeps my butt in front of the computer instead of wandering around, puttering about the apartment instead. It's kind of like she's cheering me on.

 

I can most defiantly relate, I'm an illustration student in my second year of my degree and sometimes my dolls really help me kick start my creativity when I am having a block. It's nice when deadlines are causing me stress (I stress excessively) to just take some time out to play with them or plan new face up's or clothes I want to try and make or buy. It really helps with visualizing characters as well and sometimes you have a character in your head and when you shell it you have to comprise on certain things, like not being able to find the right wig and going with another one which actually ends up fitting the character better. And when you have a character in physical form it can develop in ways you didn't really expect. My dolls are just very good distractions

 

I started collecting bjds soon after I was diagnosed with a disorder that took out my balance system. It left me with dizziness and vertigo problems. My bjds have been a wonderful hobby and are there even when I am to unwell to do much. I love photography and taking pictures is something of a challenge and a form of physio (eye stabilization) exercise for me. I am love shelling OCs (many with elaborate back stories) as well as other characters I love. I have met many wonderful people through this hobby as well and love going to meet ups. So for me yeah my dolls have been a great support and creative outlet. As for my friends some like them (some collect dolls also) and some just don't get the whole doll thing but that's ok as I don't always get other peoples hobbies either.

 

They help me be being a form of escapism. Unrealistic/fantasy type sculpts appeal to me most too, so they truly allow me to escape from the reality of normal life

 

I have a chronic illness and I take care of an elder family member. I have to be available nearly 24/7 plus I have to work working a business, two of them actually, around that. To say that my life is full and stressful is a severe understatement. Sewing, doing face ups, playing with my dolls, it's major stress relief outlet for me. About the only thing I can think of that helps more is playing with my pets and meditating.

 

Having my dolls actually brings me back to reality, rather than into fantasy. They're in my hands. Their projects are hands on, and it keeps me away from my roleplaying addiction. This hobby also gets me out with real-life friends, which is huge for my socializing. Otherwise I'd almost never get out. The finished results of my craft projects also help my self confidence, which is very low.

My doll hobby doesn't solve all my problems, but it really helps. It's very therapeutic.

 

My dolls are really calming to me when I'm upset or stressed. Sometimes when I feel like I can't handle it myself, I'll sit in the middle of all of my dolls and hold whichever one's character I feel would "understand" me the best in the situation. It's almost instantly calming. My husband realizes how much this helps, and sometimes when he sees me starting to get too anxious, he'll go choose a doll for me and bring them to me. XD

They're also an escape for me. I try to set time aside to roleplay my doll characters a few nights a week, and this lets me escape any real problems or stress for a few hours. It doesn't affect functioning in real life, it helps me to take a break from the bad stuff, calm down, have some play time when nothing matters except what's going on in roleplay, then I can come back with a relaxed, fresh attitude to tackle the real life stuff.

 

My dolls soothe me. I had a very abusive friendship for about five years that ended horribly last year and put me into a funk. It was kind of like drawing poison from a wound and once said person was completely out of my life I felt I could breathe again. But getting to that point was not easy. Especially during the time said person was in my life the hopeless and trapped feelings I would have were somehow less when the dolls were around. I could always vent to them without putting them in the middle of things and they never judged (namely because they are in fact dolls) Just having that was amazing. It was also really distracting to make things for them and focus on tiny little things for them. Sadly many of my characters had ties to theirs so when they left it felt like part of my dolls were being taken from me. Luckily for me they are adaptable and have reinvented themselves and their relationships. Kevin in particular has become a completely different person and it has been wonderful getting to know them all over again.

In the end my human friends were the most important part of getting through things ( I really have the most amazing people around me) but there were days when I could just curl up with one of them (Grigoriy in particular) and it was exactly what I needed.

 

I agree, dolls are great stress relievers.
Sometimes just taking them out of their bag and looking at them does the trick. Easier on the eyes than a stress ball too.

 

I think I actually find my dolls to make me more anxious in public because I don't want people to think I'm crazy. I live in a small rural town with a lot of bigoted people - so I can't help but feel I would be unsafe with my dolls in public.

 

I cared for two family members while they died of smoking related illnesses and did not stop smoking myself. Within a couple weeks of my long awaited Jeremy coming home, I quit! I suppose I had something positive to help ease the stress of family, work and general adult responsibilities, to give up my bad crutch. So, in a way, Jeremy has helped to save me from myself! I also started to make friends through dolls which I never had time for until this past year or so. I am a happier, healthier me with my dolls to thank!

 

I guess they do aid me when I've had my fill with people. I've never been a people person, but they're humanlike enough to be a comfort when you just need something to be there. I'm not a lonely person, but sometimes it's just nice to have that one thing that you don't have to worry about backstabbing you.

On another note, after I graduated from college I sort of fell into a creative slump and.. They helped me climb back out. I feel satisfied when I'm able to either take pictures or do their faceups, and it really helps with the daily grind. I look forward to coming home and seeing them.