Do you feel alone in the hobby? (even with the forum)

I don't have any fellow collectors by me either. People that know I collect, generally think it is weird. I try to explain to them but they just don't get it. I have to rely on the internet for Facebook and Yahoo groups to connect. I'm just glad there are doll artists out there. I had a fear that this hobby would fizzle out.

 

Nobody knows that I collect/play with my dolls except for my boyfriend. I am not planning to disclose that information to anyone yet.

 

I feel this problem too living in the middle of Ireland in a small town. Online is the only place where I talk to people who share this hobby.

 

I've only just started in the hobby and don't know anyone else who collects BJDs in person. I don't feel alone, as such, at the moment, as the whole hobby is exciting and a novelty to me at this stage and I'm learning a ton through reading this forum and speaking with people online, but I can imagine that I would like to meet others who have the same interest at some stage. I'm hoping that there will be some meet-ups local enough for me to attend. Nothing quite beats being able to share a hobby and discuss it face-to-face - plus it would be great to see other people's dolls in the flesh.

 

mmm Yes, it is a feeling that sometimes one has in this hobby I feel, except the girls of my community in my country, in my day to day if it is not by instagram or this type of pages, I do not have with anyone to speak the subject , Anyway my best friend made an effort to understand my hobby and she told me all this besides that lately I have made some friends in my own community with which I talk from time to time what we like and that Makes me feel more accompanied

 

Yes, I do. I'm not a very social person and it doesn't help that I'm afraid of people I don't know.

 

I'm part of a local BJD group on Facebook, but I feel like I'm younger than most of the people there, and I have to worry about people in my area being LGBT+ friendly as well as BJD friendly, in a sense. I feel VERY alone in the hobby, even when I try to break out of my shell and leave a comment on a picture or make a post here in the forums, it feels very fleeting and like it won't lead to something lasting.

 

I definitely feel the loneliness. It seems like all the doll people are on the other side of my state. I haven't found anyone in my city who also likes dolls. My hubby tolerates them for me, but that's about as good as it gets. I really would like to at least see a doll in person, know what resin feels like, and see how to take one apart before i get one. Might just ask about a meetup in my part of the state.

 

Definitely :c
I think it'd be cool to have a doll friend I can talk with about dolls often. I know some people IRL who are into dolls but we're just not working out as friends. We're mere acquaintances and it's awkward to do doll hangout or even just talk about dolls. All the doll meets in WA state are so far away from where I live. It's as if nobody in greater Seattle area is into these haha...
Other than that, everyone else thinks it's weird but tolerates it. I keep them away in my room and in the box, so people don't see them when they come over. My house looks rather "normal".

If anybody wants to be dolly friends outside of forum, hit me up! I'd love to have doll friends ^^

 

Ah I am in the greater Spokane area. All the meetups I see are for Seattle. Are there really none close to you? I can think of at least three right now I have seen for over there.

My house is definitely not normal i have a bookshelf full of manga, my little pony plushes everywhere, fish tanks everywhere, and airplane models everwhere too. Me and my hubby are nerds, but our friends are nerds too so it works >.<

 

I feel very lonely in the hobby all the time... Despite having the forum and knowing there are people out there having the same hobby I even have only one person I talk to directly about BJDs and she lives like 4-5 hours away from me still... I'm afraid of talking to people even on the internet and that's why I guess I've no fellow BJD friends... Especially non in my area... I'm from Germany and I've the feeling most BJD collectors here either live in the south or in the east parts of Germany while I live north-west... I even once thought about opening a thread in the dolls meetups forum here just to ask around if anyone lives nearby and would be interested in a meet... But I ended up being too afraid that no one replies and I stay all alone...
Does anyone of you think I just should open a thread in the meetups forum and ask if anyone would be interested...? I really should stop being such a coward I guess... Maybe there are much more BJD owners around and I just don't know...?

 

Sort of, I'm not the best at reaching out to people, not because I am shy or anything, I just never know what to say really. This has made it a bit difficult to find hobby friends, and the fact that there isn't much of a community so to speak of in the country where I live, at least I don't feel like we have any.
I would like to have more hobby friends, irl and from around the world, but given I am quite the lone wolf it will only ever happen if I get out of my shell somehow.

 

I'm not too open about my hobbies in general. I think it came with me all the way from middle/high school, where certain things were "uncool". Therefore, I feel more comfortable being alone with my hobby. I do enjoy reading forums and chats and it gives me enough information and communication. Also, I have the most amazing family and friends, who support me and happy to hear about something I enjoy.

 

@Ruki Pssstttt- you're always welcome to send me a PM if you want to talk

 

I feel very lonely in the hobby, of course I feel lonely in my life in general. I don't have as many close doll friends as I wish for (and had a few years ago) and I miss being able to talk directly to others about characters and ideas and that general excitement. I find that without that social element I don't enjoy my dolls as much as I used to, which really sucks.

 

I was lonely, then I wasn't, and now I am again.

 

Not so much... more like, I wish I had IRL people that understood my enthusiasm.

 

Yes, I feel alone. Will I feel this way forever? No.
Dolls have been around for 4000 years or more. The first SD was made 20 years ago. 20 years might sound like a lot of time for a hobby to catch on, but not when you're dealing with overseas sales, language barriers and months of waiting for a shipment. I believe we are the cutting edge of doll collecting and there's always only a small number of people in the beginning. The bjd hobby is growing - both in popularity and visibility.
This feeling of isolation will change. Maybe it'll change to "where did all these bjd-ers come from?!"

 

I have a friend that got me into the hobby and we chat about plans and updates all the time. I get to see her a lot since we work together. It would be very lonely without someone to fangirl with.

 

I feel awful lonely sometimes.. I wish I could make a good friends offline who respects and are passionate about this hobby as I am. Its hard to find because I work most of the days and when I look for meetup, its days where I cannot go out. Very sad sometimes..

 

I get lonely, too. I am someone who thrives off of talking with people about hobbies we are both passionate about.

My mom likes Petunia, she actually chipped in to help me buy her. But she's so busy she never has time to hear about my plans for them, or my goals at getting good at faceups. I don't blame her for that, it's just lonely. My dad thinks they're ugly wastes of money, but typically doesn't bother me about them. It also doesn't help that my brother thinks that my dolls are "evil."

I'm glad this forum is here, and I'm going to make an effort to go to more meet ups, since I enjoyed the one I went to.
Hopefully that helps with the whole feeling alone thing.

 

I shouldn't feel quite so lonely because there is a community about 3 hours from where I live. I've spoke to a few bjd owners there and we have plans to get together for a meet in the upcoming weeks. But I still feel lonely because I don't have any friends in my immediate area who are into dolls.

 

My family isn't negative about my dolls, and they appreciate the things I make for them, but I don't really talk to them about my dolls. I've been to a meet-up and hope to go to more of them, since that makes me feel less alone.

 

aye same T__T i know no one in my country who is in this hobby and i would really want to go to a doll meetup one day!

 

Hi! I just moved to Spokane recently and have been wanting to find more dollminded people/geeky people to talk/hang out with. Feel free to message me to talk about dolls. Or whatever! ☺️ I can be hella shy though...lol. Bear with me!

 

I think in terms of the forums it's hard to build friendships, this isn't the busiest forum. As much as I would love friends in person who are into the hobby, it would also be fun to have online friends to see their journey from their own part of the world

 

Yes. All my friends have very different interests and I always feel lonely *sighs*

 

yes I do at times, especially that i'm a shy type in real life so conventions either make me excited or anxious and overwhelmed so I just kinda fangirl myself

 

Sometimes... All my friends don't understand why I spend a lot of money on the dolls.

 

I'm rather lonely because i dont have any friends in the hobby lol, but ah well, I still enjoy it.

 

I haven’t never ever felt lonely when I spend the time with dolls. they give me a lot of positive energy, opmastic and stress out.They make me accept myself who I am and beautiful from inside to outside and have empowered to go day by day and love myself more and more. I am more tender, more friendly and sweeter.

I might oppose with others. I feel more lonely when I hung out with friends, chit chat and listened them to talked about their life more because I calmed down and made my life much more simply. I am no boyfriend ( which the most gave me more stressful, mad and lonely ) and I don’ t understand how to make guys pay for Louise Vutton or travelled trip as them. I know the effective that when I faded down from night life , alcohol, label, fake social , competition for hunting guys and some bad stuffs( I think, you guys can guess what it is) , they look me strange and gossiped about my eccentric that I am crazy ( about dolls). I feel happier than I hung out and 3 hours later, they was gone with strangers and gossip me with words as slut or bitch and how many guys I got last night.Don’t worry that if I am not hot enough from the group, I would be kicked off, or stressed about guys , talking about money, brand name and high end life style. All is enough for me.

Dolls make me know a lot of people by face to face and online. I met a nice auntie who I bough her vintage doll and gave me 1 more, know sweet outfits seller on Facebook ( maybe , I am lucky) or people around myself who I though they was jerk or useless, now I think they are smart and cool , and we respect each other a lot. They gave me positive feedback when I put dolls on my office desk.

 

Haha.. That is correct! I give the same questions to my friends with the that I don’t understand why they spend a lot of money on drinking.

 

For me it is not a matter of "feel", i am alone in this hobby. The last time i met other doll owner in real life was back in 2015.

 

I agree with you! I also think the same way, and feel like it too. I live in ksa, and people would consider this hobby strange and weird. I haven't told my friends either.

 

I'm lucky in that my roomie and a few of my close friends are in the hobby [after seeing my dolls] and my sisters are both very interested in their own eventually also. So I don't really feel alone in that aspect. As for the online presence I do feel much more alone within the community. Such as forums or on instagram and what not... but that's because I'm not incredibly active as i used to be.

 

It’s so nice that you have people close to you interested in the hobby! I get what you mean about the forum though. It’s not like Discord it a messaging app where you’re constantly connected (at least for me) so it can be more alienating. But, the people on DoA *are* still really helpful imo, even if we’re all a bit scattered. ^^

 

My boyfriend said the dolls are creepy and ask me not to show any of them to him. I don't have any friends who like BJDs in reality. Still I've been loving BJDs for over 10years.

 

Sometimes. Mainly because where I live there's very few people who collect bjds and live near me.

Some are in a few cities over and in South Carolina (which is only a few hours away) but there's plenty of people that I know who have bjds that I'm good friends with even if they're not in my state.

 

Fortunatly no. I have friends in the Italian community who live in Milan, like me.

 

Mh sometimes I'm feeling a bit lonely in this hobby but watching youtube videos of people talking about their dolls does help. I'd love to go to a meetup with other doll owners one day!

 

Unfortunately yes.As far as i know im the only one i know who collects dolls although i have met some people who either like the dolls as well or simply don't mind them . i leave as i am in the military. Although i do like to travel it's hard to find people who are okay with this hobby and even fewer who like it. MY husband humors me but i know he doesn't really understand how i can spend hours looking through dolls, Or how i can be so excited when i small things or dolls come in the mail. still though im content enough. ( instagram helps )

 

Sadly I have to say yes. I don't have any friends who own dolls or any friends at all to be honest. But the only people I know or can relate to are online. And most of them don't notice me or I'm too anxiety filled to reach out. I'd really like to go to a meetup one day, it's like a dream come true. But due to where I live, little to no one owns dolls and I'd more than likely have to travel very far to go to one. I also feel as if I don't fit in very well because I only have one doll as of right now and of course he doesn't change very often so not much of anybody cares to hear about him.

 

I only have one doll that isn't off topic. I'm sure there are others, too.

 

Sometimes.

When I lived back up in the north I had a few friends who were also into BJD. There were only 3 of us (another girl joined up shortly before I moved but I never got to hang out with her) and we'd go on sushi dates, hang out at each other's houses, have our own swaps and meetups. It was a blast!

Since moving I haven't been able to find that again. I attended a meet up when I first moved, and it was fun, but everyone already seemed to know each other and I felt a little out of place. I think everyone was from the US as well, so I'd need to cross the border for events and I'm not comfortable doing that alone. Detroit is really scary.

I still talk to my friends back home but it gets a bit lonely. I'd like to attend another meetup and try to get to know the local community better, once I have a doll again.

 

I think it's easy to feel alone in this hobby, even if there is DOA. But I think part of my problem is that I also tend to be a loner, and I'm very shy and awkward, so I don't really go out and meet people often...

I am forcing myself to go to a dollmeet soon, though! I really want to know what it's like, meeting others in the hobby in real life! Maybe then I won't feel as alone!

 

I live smack dab between two large cities, so you'd think I'd have plenty of fellow BJD collectors to hang out with... only problem is, both cities are a 1 to 1 1/2 hour drive away. People also tend to want to do meets on weekends and, until recently, I've had to work weekends. (If my interview Tuesday goes well, I'll be working weekends again.) In fact, it was about when I started working that I stopped really doing much with my dolls.

So yeah, I feel kinda lonely. But there's plenty of people I know online. Maybe I'll have a chance to go to another doll meet someday, fingers crossed it can be nearby.

 

I am totally alone! I always try to talk about bjds with that one friend of mine who knows about my hobby but the conversations alaways turn out kinda weird-maybe because of that I do not talk English with her and I feel like English is like the most comfortable language to speak about bjds for me? I know no one of my real-life friends or internet friends who know about and are into bjds, heck, not even someonoe I know. It frustrates me because I feel so isolated! I really wanna talk with someone about our favourite sculpts, etc...

 

I do feel a little lonely in this hobby. There is meetups a few hours from me but travelling is hard on me. It helps to be apart of forums like this and talk to people on instagram and discord have helped me alot.

 

I feel alone sometimes because none of my friends likes bjd. But I am lucky enough to live in a city where there is a group of bjd owner that like to meet up sometimes.

 

I am alone in this hobby! lol. Thank goodness for things like fb groups and this forum tho. Where would I do doll talk to or with? lol

 

None of my friends share the hobby and so far I have never met anyone in real life that has the slightest interest in BJD's. My friends accept it but none of them has any intention to join the hobby. So... honestly I have to answer the question with: yes. Although it sounds much worse than it actually is for me. I enjoy the hobby and I enjoy my dolls, so I don't need other people for it, but sometimes I think that it would be nice to meet other doll-people to share my excitement .
Maybe one-day... to be honest, I am a bit scared to look for doll-meets and conventions in my area, I don't know if I would be welcome as a newcomer in the hobby and I fear people might not like my taste in dolls. I always fear to be too weird for other people xD.
I don't even dare to share my plans on tne characters I am going to shell, 'cause I don't want others to judge me for it. I don't know, but I almost have the feeling that the doll-hobby is so close to my actual self that I might get hurt if I share my thoughts with the wrong people...
Well... I am weird

 

Sometimes, but I don’t consider it a negative thing. I used to host local group meets and we had fun but I haven’t in some time. (There’s another meet group here so that’s all good, locals have a resource!) Now I go through phases where I like to meet with certain doll friends in person and then times when DOA and Instagram are all I really want for doll hobby interaction. Since BJD Addicts has long abandoned the prompts (which I really liked), I don’t really like Facebook too much for doll stuff.

Sometimes my alone time with my dolls is my most creative time. I’m the same with other hobbies too, they are part of my private everyday world even if I’m not sharing them with fellow hobbyists in person or online. It’s exciting to meet with friends and sometimes the doll stories fly furiously (and also the laughs)...but I appreciate the well-thought-out discussions here so much too and I like just looking at the lovely walls of photos on Instagram if I don’t feel like reading.

 

I am in a somewhat similar boat living in a very tiny rural, so not too many BJD or even doll collectors of any kind close by that i'm aware of. Most meetups for me are too far for me to go to unfortunately i am keeping hope for some closer meets in the future though! Though i do wish i had someone psychically close i could talk to about dolls for hours having the internet and people to chat with is really nice at least 3

 

I tried to get my friend into the hobby. I bought him a doll and he bought me one. I believe he would have really gotten into the hobby since he knits a lot, but the college year was just so hectic and emotionally draining on everyone sadly. I also moved this summer and never had time to look for a new group to hang out with. I head back to campus this weekend.

 

Yes. I actually posted on facebook last night seeking a "bjd bestie." =/. If that says anything...

 

I do sometimes. But I think that's mostly due to the fact that I moved 400+ miles away from home to a new state and I don't have any friends outside the hobby, let alone inside the hobby. It can be a very lonely hobby as others have said too, since the dolls don't necessarily require more than one person...

I just hope that as time goes on, 2019 will bring people closer together. It's good to have alone time, but it's never good to feel completely alone. I hope this year I can be more outgoing and message more people first to spark friendships. I'm very anxious about first interactions but I hope i can overcome this (and so can anyone else struggling with anxiety!)

**I want to edit this to add that if you are feeling lonely, please feel free to message me on DoA or my Instagram which is linked in my signature. No one should feel alone in a hobby that thousands, if not millions of people enjoy! It doesn't even have to be about dolls. Making new friends is always lovely!!

 

I feel very alone in this hobby. I find I don't make friends easy in general, but I've also found that people who own dolls are few and far between here. I'm going to a local meet up this month where people come from all over the country but I don't know anyone and am worried

 

I remember looking at the hobby from afar wishing to own a BJD for years but always felt so alone in general. I understood concepts, but there's some jargon I truly didn't understand and had nobody to ask about. Right now...there's definitely a community, but I do feel I'm still alone in it? I have friends who would love to get BJDs as well but I feel they aren't on the same level as I am with wanting one.

 

I'm a loner myself, very introvert and not really bugs me if I'm alone. I've got a few colleagues I like, and they like my doll. But I can't talk with a doll person in real life, I don't know a single person who is in the hobby. I really don't know if doll meets are for me, or not, I am not good in meeting new people... For me internet is safer. But yeah sometimes it's very lonely. Creative hobbies are all really lonely, I think...

 

I teach social language skills to kids as a speech pathologist. Basically, I teach them to move close to listen to others talking, make eye contact, and add a comment that contributes when they are ready. Feedback like nodding, smiling, etc. goes a long way to making others comfortable even if there's nothing to say. The trick is to focus on others rather than yourself. I hope that helps some people to have more fun at doll meets.