Leaving the Hobby...SAY WHAT!?

I am currently going through this actually. I am strongly considering selling the dolls I have, but keep hesitating. One is even in a box, stored away and awaiting a Marketplace post, yet I have yet to go through the motions. I haven't done anything with them in ages and I feel rather badly about that. I have gone through so many dolls, that I am not sure if the hobby is really for me, but I love how beautiful and versatile they are, so it's hard to cut cold turkey.

I am very slowly working on a mod to help keep my interest, but although I may get to a day where I have no dolls of my own, I will still greatly enjoy admiring others I think and never truly leave.

 

Yes! Or at least, partially. There are a few I don't think I could ever part with, but sometimes I think I'd like to cut back and sell of maybe 75% of my collection and not buy more. Then I change my mind or can't decide who to let go.

 

mm... I don't think I've ever considered *leaving* the hobby all together. But I've definitely considered limiting my collection. it never lasts long, though. But, I can't tell the future. ^^;

 

I think I'm towards the end of my run for dolls I actually want. I have one on my list and this one on order was because I'd been eyeing centaur dolls for a while but none had caught my interest enough to purchase. I've sold a fair few dolls on because I couldn't "bond" with them properly or I didn't really "want" them any more. I have a fair few left but I can't see me getting much more than these next 2.

If I was to leave the hobby I doubt I'd sell all my dolls away, there are a few I couldn't bare to part with.

 

Yes, I know that feeling. After I got my first doll (years ago) I just couldn't relate to him and put him back in his box and just let it all rest for about a year. Back then I really regretted having spent so much money on something I didn't like.
But I came back because even though I didn't enjoy my doll I still felt intrigued by them in general. I sold him and circled through another couple dolls and sold them again, too.

It took me literally 6 tries before I finally got it right and found my own way. All of the other dolls that followed are still with me today and I don't plan on selling or re-shelling them. I don't think I'll be leaving the hobby anytime soon but when I go I'll probably keep my dolls and just leave it like that. No regrets on my part there, after all these dolls made me happy and for me that's worth every penny I spent.

 

I took a couple of years of "dolly vacation" recently, during which time I did consider that maybe I should depart from the hobby, wondering if I'd have time to get back into it... but I just couldn't see myself selling any of my dolls, and still had the desire to complete the ones I have and bring home more to complete their sets. I particularly had those thoughts prior to my most recent move, when all the dolls were packed carefully away in their boxes and stored carefully away. When I finally moved into my new place and was able to unpack those boxes and get them all out on display again, I was so glad to see them that I knew I probably wasn't leaving the hobby anytime in the foreseeable future, even if I was busy with other things!

I often find things I can stick with for years and years, however. All my major fandoms are around a decade old or more, and I've been into them for several years now. They'll all have their little dry spells for a time, but they always come back, too, and dolls have proven to be the same for me. Five years and going in this hobby hasn't been much of a jump after ten, fifteen or even twenty in others, so I'm not too concerned anymore, even if I take time away. This is another hobby where I'll always come back eventually.

 

Leaving BJD's, possibly, if there ever comes a better type of doll (unlikely though) leaving dolls, never.

 

Most of my "hobbies" directly relate to my degree and income so BJDs are one of the only things I have that is purely recreational. Plus I am trying to use the hobby to make more friends. Since I need stuff like that in my life I don't plan on leaving the hobby anytime soon. I am definitely going to stop buying dolls after 2014 since I'm exhausting my doll budget but that doesn't mean I will leave the hobby. I'd just rather focus on the dolls at hand.

 

Lately I have gotten frustrated and tired of the hobby in general but everytime I look at my dolls it drives me to keep trying. There haven't been many dolls that have made me want to buy anymore for awhile. So for the time being I plan on just working on the dolls I have now! Once I get that done maybe I will consider buying another doll in the future. I still love having dolls!

 

I tried to leave, but wound up falling back in love with my KDF Litchi (and, more recently, my Iplehouse YID Silvia). I sold off a couple dolls, mostly to make ends meet, and I'm still considering selling the Silvia, but the Litchi just has to stay. And now I'm getting back into faceups and sewing clothes...

I will never escape this hobby!

 

I highly advise against selling IHS Sylvia. I sold mine a couple of years ago and still kinda regret it.

 

I have had dolls on and off all my life, the Cindy & Barbie's were wrecked by my brothers and sister. The Revlon dolls are in a box at the bottom of my bed, My huge collection of antique French dolls is carefully stored at my parents and my bjd's live in my walk in wardrobe. Each collection I have obtained at different stages of my life with huge breaks in between. Would I ever sell them? maybe, would I ever leave doll collecting Forever? Never it's in my blood!

 

I never really leave a hobby. I might get inactive, but not leave it in the sense of actively getting rid of stuff. Now when I have to get sent to that nursing home years from now I might have to sell off some dolls...LOL

 

I must admit that currently BJDs are such a big part of my life that I couldn't even imagine what to do instead.
I do commissions, I take pictures of them, majority of my friends collect BJDs including my girlfriend, my room is pretty much "the doll room" in our apartment...if I'd suddenly drop out of the hobby there would be a huge hole and some of my other hobbies (like photography) would be heavily affected by that too.

However, what I considered a few times already, and did to a certain degree, was leaving the community.
There's so much happening in the community that I don't agree with, so much that has changed since I entered the hobby (and mostly to the worse) that I'm most of the time either angry or frustrated when browsing on DoA, Tumblr or other places where I can see and meet other collectors.
I love my dolls, love customizing them, love to take pictures...but the community is something I try to avoid as much as possible nowadays.


Must admit though that I once in a while think how it would be to start with a fresh collection or what would happen if I leave the hobby, but I'm actually pretty happy with my dolls and if I like something I REALLY do.
Like vicemage I tend to stick to things I like for years, I'm not one to change my interests or hobbies often. I just sometimes tend to let it sleep for a while till I come back to it with new inspiration and interest.

 

My BJDs sort of intersect with a lot of my other hobbies. I write about them, I take photos of them, I (try) to draw them etc. so I can't really see myself getting rid of them. They inspire me. When I'm stuck on what to write about I just look at them and it just kind of comes to me. I like having 3D representations of my characters.

I can see myself leaving the community though, since I'm not really that involved in it anyway and I don't know any doll people in real life. There are also a lot of things that go on in this community that seriously turn me off. But there is one forum that I'm on that I would probably never leave, mostly because if I did I wouldn't know where to get my questions answered, plus my favorite face up artist is on it.
But leaving the hobby? I don't think so.
I may slow down and stop buying new dolls, like I did with my Living Dead Dolls in recent years, but I would never sell them unless I was in desperate need of money and even then I would keep Imogen (my BBB Dai).

I do tend to go through phases where I will be completely obsessed with something, like manga, anime, cryptids, and other random things and while I will slow down on them I never truly stop being interested. Dolls of all kinds are, so far, my longest phase.

 

I like how vicemage put it, "dolly vacation". I tend to cycle through my hobbies--being active in one and the rest not seeing much activity, but then something changes and I ramp up my interest in a hobby that I let fall by the wayside and the whole thing just repeats itself. It took me a while to figure this out---before I wised up to how I function, I used to sell all the supplies & equipment that I thought I would no longer need. But then when I got re-interested in the hobby, I'd have to purchase new stuff to replace the ones I sold. Expensive mistakes, but now I know that I really just need to keep everything even when I think I'm giving up a hobby since from past experience, I don't really give it up.

I'm also not very active in the community aside from posting on threads once in awhile. I'm more active on another OT doll forum, but even that is just posting, moderating, participating in swaps...I don't share my hobby with any other people in real life. It's been 9 months since I got my last BJD...and for now, I think I'm good. I don't like to think of selling them, but if I needed to, I probably would. If it ever came down to that, because I can't choose, it would just be easier for me to sell them all...and then start anew.

 

Sometimes I feel exhausted with the hobby and leaving is very tempting, but then I look at my dolls and I know I'd miss them if I sold them all and left the hobby completely. It's nice to take a break from the online hobby and just enjoy the actual physical experience of interacting with my dolls on my own and taking pictures of them just for my own enjoyment instead of posting them online.

Instead of focusing on new dolls I try to do more with the ones I have and that way I stay interested.

 

I'm sure I'll wander away eventually... No hobby lasts forever for me, and sooner or later I'll move on from this just like I have from almost every other pass-time.

I won't get rid of all of my dolls, though. I've always kept my favorite pieces from older collections even after my serious interest had faded, and I don't think these guys will be any different. I just won't post here or do much with them anymore. They'll hang around in their display cabinet and be pretty until who-ever inherits my "stuff" has to figure out what to do with them.

 

@Ara*: I'd hate for you to leave the hobby. You're a nice and grounded person.

I've been worried for a while if I'd still be in this hobby in a decade. Collecting dolls is nice, but I don't want to own too many, because I don't like the way larger collections look. I love them in other people's homes, but I'd rather prefer a smaller one for myself. I think this is why I've taken up sculpting. If I don't want to leave, but I can't focus on collecting anymore, I need something else to with my time. Sculpting seemed like a good alternative.

 

I just... I don't know what I'd do instead if that makes sense? I'm the doll-girl. Dolls have been a major feature in my hobbies for as long as I care to remember, I don't think I've ever *not* had dolls. I just don't hide them now (unless uninitiated company is coming to call and I can't keep an eye on their hands)

Otherwise, I have always had, and probably will always have dolls, an small hand-made things. As my dad pointed out once, when I was griping about how weird I must be and how I should give it all up - it's 'who I am'. I'm a maker of things, and I live in my own world, peopled with my creations.

Plus- dolls are pretty. I love pretty things. I'm an aesthete, so at the end of the day, I can't really find anything I love as much as something beautiful.