Unexpected Lessons Learned from the Hobby?

For me, the most important lesson I've learned in this hobby is not to tell myself I "can't" do something. My first faceup was awful (as most first faceups are), so I told myself and everyone else who would listen for almost seven years that I couldn't paint to save my life and spent a lot of time and money commissioning talented artists to paint my dolls. Since patience is not one of the things I've learned through the hobby, sending a beloved doll off for months at a time was always agony.

Then last year I bought a blank Miyu head off the marketplace. All of my usual artists were busy for at least the next month, and a friend of mine pushed me again to at least try painting. She even sat down with me to show me how to properly thin paints. My first few faceups were awful anyway, but it became a lot easier to see them as learning experiences instead of failures, and a year later I've painted every new doll we've gotten myself and actually liked the results. I can't believe how quickly I improved, and conversely how long I talked myself out of even trying. I've realized that some skills are cumilative: you just have to be awful at them for a while so you can learn to be brilliant. It's changed how I approach everything.