How do you keep yourself interested?

Lately, I've noticed that I post less and less photos or stories of my gals (not that I was ever a great 'poster' before) and most of the days, they are just sitting or standing at my desk most likely thinking I should get out of this rut I've sunk in and start paying them more attention . I've also noticed that I haven't been really interested in pursuing my grail dolls at all and in a way, that's kinda scary because its like my interest in the hobby is waning and I feel sort of guilty. This has happened to me in the past from a previous hobby and though I've kept most of my equipment from that, I haven't really gotten back into it. I'm hoping this isn't the case now . I've even decided to make a custom character in the hopes that that keeps me motivated (and I don't feel as guilty not spending as much time with the girls )

 

So has anyone ever felt this way about the DD hobby or any hobby for that matter and what did you do about it? How did you keep yourself interested?

I've been in the hobby for nine years now. That's a long time. I can tell you that for a fact-- I have not been actively playing with my dolls for nine years. Attention comes and goes- that's just how it works. I wouldn't try to force it, it is what it is. I believe that if you really have an interest in a hobby it's like a good friend-- you don't need to hang out all the time to be with each other, you can have silences that are never awkward, and sometime time apart just makes the time together even more rewarding.

I believe that if you really have an interest in a hobby it's like a good friend-- you don't need to hang out all the time to be with each other, you can have silences that are never awkward, and sometime time apart just makes the time together even more rewarding.

 

What you said makes me feel tons better. I never quite thought about it that way but what you say make perfect sense Once I looked at it that way, I don't feel as bad. I still sort of feel guilty but I guess it must be because the girls have become more than just a collection of 'cute dolls' but your right, I shouldn't force myself because that's one way to make myself actually lose more interest in it. Thanks!

I've heard of a lot of people who take small breaks from the hobby. I think it's normal and it happens to me with all my hobbies. I'm not always into drawing mood, or in reading mood, or into manga and anime. I guess, dolls take a lot of my time all day, but I've been in the hobby only a year and a few months now. I don't exactly "play" with my dolls much either, because I need to have them hidden, but just looking at them makes me happy and that's a way for me to enjoy the hobby ^ ^;;;

So I don't think you should worry too much for not playing with them all the time! I'm sure you'll get back to them again when you feel like it and that's all that really matters, wether in the end, you'd still go back to them even if it's after a year or two or three or if you're just happy to have them around, like me.

Heh, it seems you're not the only one who's feeling this way recently.

 

From my experience in other hobbies, your attention goes from fever pitch to normal to waning to couldn't care less and then back up again. It's the nature of things really. I've always found that stepping back and taking a break from things always helps me to refocus and feel better.

 

I recently got burned out due to the large photo shoots I did for Christmas. After those, I was sore, worn out and just dead for ideas for photostories. I had no desire to get back down on the floor for hours doing pics. So I kinda didn't do much for almost a month. Then I slowly started doing just simple pics of the girls in new outfits and such. Now I'm starting to get more ideas for stories again and it feels more natural for me and not "forced".

 

I think it's totally normal for people to feel this way about something they are passionate about.

 

And there is also a shift in the hobby from what it used to be 2 years ago. We don't have nearly as many people who do photo stories with their girls as we used to. And even tho we have a lot of new people joining the hobby, they don't seem to be into that side of things. It seems things are changing to a more collector mentality than just a regular hobby mentality. I'm not saying this is bad by any means, I'm only saying it's different and some people who have been in the DD hobby for 2 or more years aren't doing what they used to due to these things.

 

I still try and do as many pics as I can but I find myself doing other things in my time off and not solely focusing on the girls. I think many other people do the same. Finding the time to make stories and photos of the girls isn't as easy for me as it used to be and I'm sure others are having these problems too. But after taking a break from stories, I'm feeling much better about them and doing more with my girls now.

 

But hang in there! If you're feeling like you aren't interested with them for a bit, just sit back and put it on hold for a week or more and see how it goes. Don't go selling off immediately tho, I've seen people do this before and regret it bigtime. It's best to hang onto stuff and if it helps, put them away where you dont see them for a bit. That may make things easier for you.

 

Hopefully this makes some sense to you.

 

 

 

Billy

I totally agree with zakka. I feel it in the same way. It comes and goes and it's better not to force it, just let it be. I have been a long time in this hobby and sometimes I was like in love with my dolls, playing with them and thinking in them most of the day, and other times, they were kept in their boxes and I didn't take them out for months. All depends on my mood

I know the feeling Although, my dolls are generally in my doll bag the majority of the time as it is. I'll find myself shying away from the online communities for months at a time and having no interest in getting involved, but then I come back and see all the news and the latest buzz and it's fun again.

 

Sometimes I find getting a new outfit, wig or eyes as a way to get excited again. I love seeing the dolls with new looks and it "restores" my interest.

I’ve been in the hobby a long time. Including my time with BJD’s, I’ve been into dolls for 10 years, if I could Dollfie Dreams only; it’s been about 8 or 9 of those years. I’ve not actively engaged in it throughout that whole time.

 

I’ve dropped out of BJD’s completely and haven’t been involved with them for more years then I can remember. With dollfie dreams I have ‘quit’ the hobby twice. One of those times I went so far as selling all but one of my dolls, the reason for selling was due to financial needs, not because I was quitting, but they tied in together quite nicely at the time.

 

I quit the hobby, for lack of a better word because I lost interest. I wouldn’t play with my dolls at all, didn’t buy anything for them for months at a time, didn’t like any new dolls, didn’t like the communities available at the time and didn’t even want to look at pictures of other peoples dolls. I just didn’t care for them at all. There was also a phase where I didn’t like a lot of the new dollfie dreams. Yoko and Nia, Neris and Airy, Alna, Akira, Beato and Maria, Haruka to name a few. There was a long line of new DD’s that I wasn’t at all interested in and that didn’t help me want to participate in the hobby, for me there was nothing new that I likes to excite me, so that along with everything else just put out the DD flame for me.

 

I came back to the hobby gradually because I never stopped talking to my doll friends on twitter. The chatting slowly progressed to looking at my friends pictures on Flickr again or checking out their blog posts. Then one day I just picked Lilly up when I was bored and changed her outfit, it was kinda fun and she looked cute so I took a quick snap shot and posted it on twitter. It just slowly grew back from there and before I knew it, there were finally cute new dolls which I could actually see myself wanting to buy and there were dresses and shoes that I wanted and I couldn’t stop talking about dolls to my friends and It just blossomed again for me.

 

The biggest deal for me was the Saber Alter re-release, I missed the pre-orders (doh) but I was able to snag her head at a price I could afford, I was totally stoked by that, soon after I brought her a wig, then I commissioned her outfit (which later all went horribly wrong, but I didn’t know that at the time lol) This was such a huge excitement for me because she was my holy grail doll, back when she was first released, peoples most wanted dolls were referred to most commonly as holy grail’s or grail’s instead of unicorns

 

Because of Saber Alter, my fire was well and truly stoked and I was right back into the thick of it lol. About a year and 3 more dolls later, here I am today xD

 

Long story short, just because you have a dry unimaginative patch, doesn't mean it's game over forever

Don't go selling off immediately tho, I've seen people do this before and regret it bigtime.

 

Hopefully this makes some sense to you.

 

Billy

 

No worries about that so far. I'm kinda like my husband in this way in that when I get something I like, I hang on to it for dear life. LOL. Like with my custom cake stuff, I haven't even thought of selling that even though I rarely use them since my thinking is that I might end up doing it actively again in the future as opposed to my once a year themed birthday cake thing. If I can't sell things that are fairly easy for me to come by, its seems more unlikely I'll do that to the girls unless finances dictate otherwise.

 

 

Long story short, just because you have a dry unimaginative patch, doesn't mean it's game over forever

 

LOL. True enough.

 

Thank you everyone for your responses. I really appreciate it.

I know for me that the last three months have been about the worst for me in about a decade. The stress has been unbelievable, I feel like I have no time no time to spend here on the forums with my friends, and to top it all off, this is the last week of the quarter before finals and I'm stuck in bed because my back went out. Despite all the crap I've had to deal with I've still been slowly working on DD stuff, got one of my girls finished as well as Rainie, found more socks to make Naiomi dresses with, excited and nervous about Kos-Mos, and I have a friend from my Japanese class who loves dolls just as much as I do. I'm excited to have some time to do some doll photos with her, but I can't complain that she likes Tamayuki the best.

 

Even with all of that it's been hard for me to feel connected with my DD. I'm just glad that they are more patient than real people, but seeing Naiomi often still makes me sad because it seems like all I say to her is "Hi stranger" before dragging my feet to do my homework. I was finally able to take some time today and play Pokemon with Rainie, and as simple as that it sounds it still made me unbelievably happy. Raven bought ComiPo the other day and Tamayuki and I have been having fun making his own manga with that. It will be great to tell some of our family's stories with it when I don't feel like doing photo stories, or my back just won't tolerate it. Even then I didn't have a chance to do Tamayuki's birthday post at the beginning of Feb because we had to go to a funeral and school has kept me at a dead run since then. I really try to keep a bright outlook on things, but the stress from school is killing everything else that's important to me. Even Raven and Yuriko have been pretty quiet and I'm rather sure he's feeling lost as well.

 

And there is also a shift in the hobby from what it used to be 2 years ago. We don't have nearly as many people who do photo stories with their girls as we used to. And even tho we have a lot of new people joining the hobby, they don't seem to be into that side of things.

 

I was complaining to Raven the other day that it seems like the threads that are posted on the most recently are the unicorn thread, girl's ages, and favorite sculpts. There isn't anything wrong with posting there, but what in the world are you supposed to say to a list of sculpt names and/or numbers of girls that you wouldn't know them based on the individual owner? I've been trying hard again to post comments in threads, especially the picture threads, when I have at least a little to say because I know very well how much the feedback maters to other people, and helping them keep an interest in our shared hobby too. My brain is so fried most of the time that all I can think of is "She's cute!" I really don't want to post that 20 times in a row and merely feel like a parrot. It's kinda hard not feeling like people come onto the forums more often than not for bragging rights. I'm sure that sounds a little hypocritical coming from me because of how many DD we have now, but I'm never sure if my excitement is taken as bragging. (It's not supposed to be.) In my own way I just try to lead by example because I want other people to be excited about the hobby too. Having a one person party never lasts long. That's why I talk as much as I do when I have something to say. It's the only way I know how to connect across the net where emotions get lost in the digital translation. For myself I'm well aware that I get out of the hobby what I put into it, on the forums as well as in my own time. It is difficult holding interest in dolls for a sustained amount of time, especially when the people you regular share the hobby with are also being quieter than what seems usual.

 

This is the first time since we got our DD last year that things are settling in and there isn't the constant need to buy more DD related stuff. I wasn't really sure how I'd deal with it when it happened, but I can't complain about being content with what we have. I have reached one of the small goals I wanted with our girls, and the last head I wanted this year has been shipped. I still have plenty of projects and photo stuff planned for our DD, but there is only one small photo story I'll be able to manage during spring break (if my back decides to get better) and everything else will have to wait until summer.

 

I haven't wanted to think about how hard things have been with me, but at least I have the reassurance that there will be an end to it. After many, many long talks Raven and I have realized that me going to school isn't what's best for me or our family. Most people can stand the stress of a normal life, but I can't. Going to college has taken a heavy toll on my health and more importantly my mental well-being. I'm really proud that I've been able to go to college because it was something I thought I could never do, yet I reached a point where it seemed like the only option for us. Thankfully things in that area have gotten much better. I am determined to finish what I started this year, leaving only have one more quarter left to survive. After that I get to return to my happy little life at home, taking care of what's most important to me, and spending time with those who matter the most. I may sound like a sap, but I've missed you guys more than I've wanted to admit.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I may sound like a sap, but I've missed you guys more than I've wanted to admit.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

Awww! We (me and the residents of the House) missed you and your family too. Like you said:

 

It is difficult holding interest in dolls for a sustained amount of time, especially when the people you regular share the hobby with are also being quieter than what seems usual.

 

Even though I wasn't one to post lots of stories, I loved reading the ones made by the people here. It makes me think, "the girls will love reading that" or some such thing and it keeps me connected to them. It still makes me feel guilty I'm not doing more but like everyone says, everyone needs a break now and then and it doesn't always signal the end of everything.

I haven't lost interest in dolls yet, so I can't really say anything in that regard.

 

However, I have lost interest temporarily in other hobbies. And that's the thing - for me, it's always temporary. I've never completely lost interest in any of my hobbies, no exaggeration, since I was a kid. Sure, some of them have completely morphed. But I've only ever added hobbies. I've never subtracted any.

 

When I was a kid I played with action figures (mostly of superheroes like X-Men and Spiderman and such). When I was a teenager, that turned into collecting figures. Now I no longer collect figures just to collect them, and buy only ones that I really like (these tend to be the $50+ Japanese figures, so I buy less too!).

 

Also, I've been into video games since the late '80s or so when the NES came out in the US. My genre interests have vastly changed over the years. Heck, there was even a period of time where I hardly played video games compared to the number of hours I played before and after - during a large chunk of the PS2 days.

 

I see a lot of people lose interest and sell off all of their dolls. I don't really get that. You might regret it later. At least, I would. If you need money, at least keep your favorite 1 or 2 dolls if possible. You never know if later on you'll get back into it.

For me, all of my interests come and go in waves and cycles. For a few months I'll be completely immersed in RPGs, then that will wear off and I'll find myself buried in music related stuff, then the dolls, then soaking up anime, then photography, then back to one of the others... Sometimes it works out that two or more will kind of overlap because they complement each other, like dolls and photography, but not always.

 

I get extremely and deeply enthusiastic about whatever my interest is at the time, but I have a very hard time maintaining a sustained interest in any one hobby. But no matter what, if it was something that I was able to get caught up in once, it always comes back around, eventually.

 

Lately, I've been working a lot more than I have in years, so my time has felt really constrained. This has made it a lot harder to feel like I have the time to engage as deeply with any of my hobbies that require large stretches of uninterrupted time, like photographing Yuriko. She still keeps reminding me that I haven't even gotten pictures of her with her Valentines cards, yet and it's already after White day (Speaking of which, a card from Redlion arrived two days ago, it's super cute).

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with not being 100% super attentive to all your girls all the time. Sometimes other things do take priority and sometimes you just need a break. Most of the DDs I've known tend to be pretty forgiving and tolerant. Plus, maintaining a high level of enthusiasm for long periods of time can get to be exhausting after a while. Don't beat yourself up over it, and don't stress over the "shoulds" and "have to's" and eventually your interest will pick back up again, I'm sure.

Agreed with others who have stated that any hobby interest has a natural cycle of ups and downs, summers and winters as it were. There can even be ice ages where you'll lose interest for a long period of time. That's happened with some of my old hobbies before. I do believe though if one finds something interesting once, one might find similar things interesting again later on.

 

The key is to simply not force anything (this will backfire and be detrimental instead), and go with what does catch your interest. Sometimes that won't be dolls, or books, or games, or whatever else you like. You'll be in a hobby winter in one or more things. You might discover a brand new interest during this lull period. Who knows!

 

Maybe your interest will come back to DD, or maybe it won't. But the point is that it doesn't matter - just because you like dolls now doesn't mean you're now obligated to do so forever.. ..even if the chances are high that you might .

after getting into a relationship, i lost interest.

 

this doesnt help after i had gotten melty.

 

so i gave everything to my girlfriend and call it a day

after getting into a relationship, i lost interest.

 

this doesnt help after i had gotten melty.

 

so i gave everything to my girlfriend and call it a day

cause you found a 1/1 scale doll to play with?

after getting into a relationship, i lost interest.

 

this doesnt help after i had gotten melty.

 

so i gave everything to my girlfriend and call it a day

cause you found a 1/1 scale doll to play with?

its a sad thing if you treat the person who love you as an emotionless being. just saying.

"Doll" in English is a slang term for a pretty girl. It can have other nuances depending on the tone including suggesting the person being called a doll isn't terribly smart but is really lovely to behold. The term can also be used to indicate the person is precious and/or sweet/innocent. It seems to work in Spanish as well. Or at least it does for my aunt who named her precious Sheltie "Muñeca" ("Doll"). I think shinegamix is using doll as a play on words because of its double meaning which is particularly relevant on this forum.

Not actively doing things related to my hobbies every day doesn't mean I have lost interest. Hobbies are Hobbies because they are things we can do as we want when we want how we want because they are Hobbies.

"Doll" in English is a slang term for a pretty girl. It can have other nuances depending on the tone including suggesting the person being called a doll isn't terribly smart but is really lovely to behold. The term can also be used to indicate the person is precious and/or sweet/innocent. It seems to work in Spanish as well. Or at least it does for my aunt who named her precious Sheltie "Muñeca" ("Doll"). I think shinegamix is using doll as a play on words because of its double meaning which is particularly relevant on this forum.

wow i wasnt expecting anybody to understand the play

"Doll" in English is a slang term for a pretty girl. It can have other nuances depending on the tone including suggesting the person being called a doll isn't terribly smart but is really lovely to behold. The term can also be used to indicate the person is precious and/or sweet/innocent. It seems to work in Spanish as well. Or at least it does for my aunt who named her precious Sheltie "Muñeca" ("Doll"). I think shinegamix is using doll as a play on words because of its double meaning which is particularly relevant on this forum.

lolx. first thing that came in my mind is the episode of Hell Girl where the husband treats the wife as a doll. like literally.

 

if you havent watched it yet, well.... okay lol

Cool! I love Hell Girl! I remember that episode.

It's been a struggle lately. The last year has been difficult for a variety of reasons, so my general level of energy and enthusiasm is low across the board, but there are still times when I have a lot of fun. For example, I got in some new eyes last week and enjoyed putting them in...even if it was frustrating at times.

first of all....I still don't know how to post photos here xD but I do in my flickr account I guess my love for dolls xD I really love dolls from the start and always thought of finding new outfits for them and then more wigs :3 I also love to take photos of my girls

They sit on my desk and look cute. I idly brush their hair, (meaninglessly) scratch behind their ears, let them sit on my arms and hug them at random.