To those who left the hobby and then returned....

I bought my first dolls during uni and they were incredibly expensive for a part time student… I think it was a combination of the cost (I so badly wanted to buy more outfits and get a nice camera to take good photos of my dolls) and also other interests I had at the time which took priority.

The friend who I created my doll world with has always brainstormed with me throughout the years whenever we would meet and so we kept our stories and characters alive for 7 years! We’re now working adults with disposable income and we figured it was about time to come back! I’m so excited to be able to afford more clothes for my boys, especially the ones who were neglected and put in my drawers/left in a dark box for 7 years!

 

I think I stopped for a few reasons. I was still a teenager when I started in this hobby and I very much felt like I had to try to compete with people who had a lot more experience, talent and money than I did. This forum was super active and it often felt like my posts would get overlooked. I'm pretty sure I also got frustrated in how slowly I was gaining the skills I so desperately wanted and instead of working harder I just kind of gave up. It's a bit embarrassing now. I think another contributing factor was that I never really had any doll friends to share my hobby with.

As to why I returned, I don't know— I seem to pop in and out every few years. I've been having some health problems that make a lot of other hobbies difficult, so I felt like this might be a good time to work on some of the things I always wanted to do with my dolls. It's been really fun reading through the forum again and looking at all the new dolls and clothes.

 

I stopped because I didn't have much time. At all. I mean, I had work-and home-and work. And I didn't want to make anything else, to be honest, I didn't want to do anything at all. That was looking kinda like depression, so I tried to do something I used to like.

 

I got into BJDs 13 years ago or so and have taken a few breaks here or there, which I think is pretty natural for any long-term hobby.
My most recent break from the hobby was not due to lack of interest so much as being busy with personal matters and not having money to spend on BJDs.
I took a long break from DoA starting before my break from the hobby because I was mostly socializing with a local group of hobby friends and customizing my dolls on my own. After being in the hobby for several years, I also find that there are style trends, and sometimes I am just not very interested in most of the new dolls or accessories being offered for a time.

I always come back to the hobby because I have not found any other creative outlet I enjoy quite as much as BJDs. Things have stabilized for me recently, so I have been able to spend time and money on BJDs again.
I started getting on DoA again because I moved and do not have the local community anymore. I also want to get marketplace access back after hiatus and familiarize myself with new companies, sculpts, and problems since trying to shop on Etsy or Ebay without some prior knowledge of a specific shop or seller feels like just sifting through irrelevant and non-legit items.

 

I took a long break mostly because of school, but also because I wasn't bonding well with the dolls I had at the time and didn't have the energy to try harder. Eventually I placed them back in their boxes and into storage. I pretty much forgot about them at that point.

Then big life changes happened. I moved, causing me to find the dolls in storage again. I figured why not sell one or two. While looking into dolls again and doing research to sell, I found a lot had changed in the market. There were bodies that looked sooo much better than what my boys had, I was excited! It prompted me to get them those new bodies, and then I plunged back into the hobby after discovering more and more new artists and sculpts! I'm happy to be back!!

 

I got my first BJD in 2009, was rather active until around 2013, then put them away for 10 years, and came back in late 2022.

I got into BJDs at a very dark time when I was going through some work-life crises and depression/bad mental health. BJDs were wonderful, but because of my poor mental health I found the hobby incredibly frustrating as well, and I was also trying to use dolls to assuage my pain (which just doesn't work). In 2012, my life turned a corner -- my work-life situation improved and I started coming out of depression.

I think I lost interest in BJDs because my life was getting better. I was also getting more invested in other creative hobbies, so I put my dolls away in their boxes into a closet around 2013.

And there they stayed for almost 10 years. Every few years or so, I'd log in to DoA and take a quick peek. (Honestly, the only reason I logged in was because I was updating the account passwords in my password manager, saw the DoA password entry, went "huh, I wonder what it looks like now", and login out of curiosity.) But I'd log right back out. Just not interested in this hobby. I had other interests to pursue. I don't think I ever looked at my dolls once in that time. Now that I think about it, perhaps my dolls were subconscious reminders of that dark time of my life and how frustrating the hobby was to me then, and even though I loved them I just didn't want to bring back memories of the past.

But something changed in October 2022... I logged into DoA (again, because I saw it in my password manager), looked around, went "hmm, maybe I should look at my dolls" -- and actually pulled them all out of the closet. This time the spark reignited, I fell in love with them all over again, and dove back into the hobby with gusto.

So what brought me back was being in a much better work/life situation, having much stabler mental health, and just being older and more settled in myself. So seeing my dolls didn't bring back bad memories but actually sparked excitement. What's more, I'm able to do everything I wanted to do when I started the hobby but couldn't because of my bad life situation - faceups, sewing, learn how to take good photoshoots. BJDs have changed a lot over 10 years so it's been really fun to rediscover the hobby all over again and experience a bit of that newbie excitement!

 

I liked the dolls , I left the hobby because I don't like the drama , I don't like the emotion invested in dolls from many in the community at the time (treating them not just as expensive collectables but in an almost uncanny way like humanoid living things) and also those dolls even if they are wonderful sculpts they have proven very tiresome collection to keep in shape (restringing , damaged face ups to clean and repaint , easily stained have to be cleaned , stored nicely etc) so as responsibilities got more and more serious this fell behind .... What brought me back actually nothing I just have plenty of the dolls managed to sell some but many are here sadly and I have no use for them and those are heavy and space consuming to have around but also too expensive to just throw out so I have to find the persistence inside a busy everyday life to dig out certificates match them with the appropriate sculpts photograpgh them and sell them which is not little work as all of you know when the last of those is sold then I'll be done and free.

 

I didn't really leave the hobby intentionally so much as it was hard to prioritize at the time? I jumped in at a young age with little to no income, so my attention sort of drifted to other things. I fell back in pretty hard after realizing I could spend my tip money on doll stuff
Now that I'm starting again, I'm trying to be a bit more social and ambitious with my crafts, (and I'm pretty glad I never seriously entertained the idea of selling my first dolls!)

 

I left before the pandemic because of life stuff along with money. I fully intended to leave permanently last year, but when I went to sell my dolls, I started handling them again and realized how much I still love some of them. Then I did a new faceup for my MSD girl, and it was like "Oh right this is why I love the hobby" and I decided to return.

 

I think I stopped because of costs (just too much money!) and I felt overwhelmed from both the community and what was available. The fact that so many things I wanted were special edition, limited, or hard to find didn't help, so I'm sure the frustration added to it and I just gave up. I tried to come back a few times over the years, but these same problems popped up and I'd back out again before committing to anything.

 

I started in 2020 and impulsively bought everything from clothes, head and body. I didn’t like my doll because it wasn’t my style but I just got everything as quickly as I could. After buying 2 more heads and being dissatisfied with them I sold 2 dolls and decided they weren’t my thing.
I got back into it a year later after discovering an entire world of custom heads that were more widely available than I had originally thought. I commissioned my favorite character and got her custom clothes and eyes and fell in love all over again. Now I’m helplessly addicted and have no intentions of ever leaving this hobby, I’m in good deep with my money and dolls are way too cute to ever give up

 

I honestly think most of what made me leave was mental health problems unrelated to the hobby that were infecting my life. I came back when I got into a better mindset (though unfortunately not a better situation) and found i missed my characters too much, and missed my dolls that I had sitting on a shelf in their boxes.

And then when I came back I figured out what I wanted in my collection, and found a cozy little doll server and some friends to share with, so I figure I'm back for good :>

 

From time to time I don't dive into the hobby for a few months. Only because I get super busy with work or other things going on in my life. But I always seem to find my way back because my "doll stuff" is like mental health therapy for me.

 

I left the hobby about 7 years ago right as I was about to enter college. They mainly just became less of a priority. I was never involved in the drama, so the community never was the problem. The problem was me. I just didn't enjoy them as much as I had thought I would. That maybe I had spent all this money on nothing. It was disappointing, so I kept trying to push myself to like them more. Even so far as to taking them to college with me to see if they'd stick. They didn't. I think I sold my first one only a year after owning it, and then just fell off the hobby when I went through a major depression and lacked funds.

I always lurked in the hobby after that. Check up now and again to see the status of the community. I sold the last of the dolls from college that I tried to force myself to like. I gave another one away (an off-topic doll) to like a Goodwill, and another one remains as sort of like a 'junk' doll I keep stored away for customization testing. Only one left from that era is the grail sculpt I managed to get my hands on. I just needed to let them go one way or another. When I sold my last one, it felt as though a huge weight was removed from my shoulders. It wasn't even about money at that point, but the memories these 'failures' of the hobby that kept me at arms length from returning...

What made me return recently though was a sort of spark of nostalgia. I ended up realizing that I had gotten it wrong from the get-go. It wasn't hyper realism or odd molds I loved, although I still find many of them so beautiful. The doll hobby for me had always been an extension of my love for anime.

So I'm really happy that I waited a long time and let the past go. It helped me reorient myself and what I liked. And now that I'm currently in a more financially stable situation, I'm able to enjoy it to the fullest. Sure, my time is still divided by other things, but I'm more mature now and can handle time management better than then. I just got my new one and I genuinely fell in love with it in a way that I've never fallen in love with any other doll.

 

I wouldn't say I left the hobby, so much as took an extended break. Truth is, I sometimes switch being active in a hobby for awhile. Coupled with depression and anxiety, I just have to step back and reset from time to time.

 

I kind of left before even really getting started because at the time I just wasn't financially able to participate and I couldn't really imagine being able to spend money on dolls. Things obviously changed and I started getting interested again and researching before buying my first doll~

 

I left due to being an abusive relationship. My depression was bad and I no longer was happy with my collection. I also needed money to escape my situation so I sold all my dolls, and regret selling one really bad as the artist no longer makes dolls. I returned because I’m in such a better place and decided to try again in the hobby but with a very small collection (only 1).

 

I've been in the hobby since DoA was a mailing list, but I pressed pause due to a bunch of other things taking priority: some health issues, work, retraining for a new career, moving, getting married, moving countries, then having a baby. I never wanted to get rid of my dolls, but they stayed in their boxes throughout most of this.

At the start of 2022 I realised I really wanted to get back into dolls. I don't have as much time as I used to, but I've really been enjoying adding to my collection, doing doll crafts and faceups, and discovering the huge amount of changes since I started. There's so much more choice, and some incredible artists out there. I'm very happy to be back.

 

I've been in the hobby for about 11 years (but have known about BJDs for about 14 years). I've left the hobby after my mom gifted me my first doll, because it was way too expensive for me (I was 14 years old at the time), and also because my first doll was a total disaster. I wanted to receate one of my favourite characters but the sculpt and the body were wrong, I messed up the face-up (my first one), and I couldn't find the perfect outfit. It discouraged me and I moved on to other kind of dolls (Pullips, pure neemo, barbie etc). I returned a bit when I was in college, after buying my second doll, but left again because I was broke. It's only been about 2 years that I actively got back into the hobby, after finishing my studies and started working. I've always loved BJDs, but they were too expensive for me so I just liked to look at them from afar. I didn't even feel legitimate enough to participate in DOA discussions even though I signed up a long time ago, so now I'm trying to make up for lost time.

 

For me, I think it was a combination of things. It was too expensive at the time, plus I have also struggled with thinking I'm "done" with a hobby, selling everything, only to fall back in love with the hobby later. And buying things back isn't fun... plus, I haven't been in a financial situation where I can even begin to think about re-acquiring lost items.
I know why I do this now, and don't anymore (plus I have a partner who can stop me if I don't realize I'm in the mood to Get Rid Of Stuff), but yeah, I've done that with a few hobbies, including dolls. Forever grateful for past me not selling my Beyla, but all the other dolls I owned went.
What made me come back now has been genuinely missing the hobby, and deciding I'm gonna hobby as well as I can with my one doll, love the heck out of her, and not stress so much about what I've lost. The thought of my sold dolls kept me away for a long time.