Why You Should Go Outside: Confidence, Fuck it All, and Dirty Knees

Doll photography can be painful.

Not in the visually unappealing sense (though that happens on occasion), but rather in the physical sense.

Trying to achieve interesting angles and proper scale usually means we look a bit like this:

                                                 

In awkward poses but with a camera. We must suffer for the art.

And our backs ache.

And we get our knees dirty.

Sometimes we drown our cameras.

This is the last thing my old Canon Rebel ever saw. Read about it here:
http://amaranthscastaways.tumblr.com/post/125028357502/ok-so-i-had-a-fiasco-today-i-got-a-great-idea

I think most of the doll people I talk to express trepidation at the thought of going outside- not in the basement dweller who can't stand sunlight way- with their dolls. Why? Because by and large we're scared of being judged.

From judgment can come rude comments, scathing looks, pointing, laughing, and on the rarest of occasions physical confrontation.

I'm about an unsocial as the rest of the BJD hobby. Even now I have no idea what to do when someone asks too many questions. I mostly just stand there awkwardly, mumble a bit, and then fight-or-flight kicks in and I run away back to the safety of burrow home.

Yet, I still go outside. I like my yard mostly because I have trees and cool aging things that make neat backgrounds. I like to challenge myself to make the same areas look different. Plus my neighborhood is used to me by now.

All of that aside however……

Here are reasons why going outside in general is damn good for you:

• Sunlight produces vitamin D. We need vitamin D to survive.
• Being in nature is proven to improve mood and help alleviate depression.
• Walking is good exercise.
• Yoga is also good exercise. And you will be doing yoga poses trying to take photos of your dolls.
• Grounding is an excellent way to relieve yourself of negative energies. There's few better ways to ground than, you know, getting your knees and feet in dirt. Real dirt.
  
  Artistic endeavors, like photography, also raise your good mood. They get positive, creative juices flowing. Combine that with the energies of grass and trees and it's a recipe for Good Vibes.

I hear you--- It's dangerous to go out. People will beat me up. What if someone asks to hold my doll? What if they steal it? I'm scared of dirt. I'm allergic to sunlight. I am allergic to people.

Here's the deal. I have like, 0 confidence most of the time, but I've taught women's self-defense classes and I'm a huge proponent of the Fake it Till You Make it school of thought. There's a few things you can do to make yourself feel more confident:

• Hold your head up.
• Walk with long, powerful strides.
• Square your shoulders.
• Fake it. Faking confidence is the quickest way to actually building it.
• Know that it only takes about 10lbs of pressure to break a trachea. ;) Take a self-defense class. It'll make you feel like a badass. It'll make you safer.
• JUST DO IT.

https://38.media.tumblr.com/cd1da38e194459c94685c7e967fab996/tumblr_inline_o2f6553kXe1sit5r2_500.gif

                                       
Generally speaking, the average thug is just like a mountain lion or a bear. If you seem big and threatening, they're going to leave you alone.

You can also mitigate these fears by taking your doll to a decently public place, where there are people around so you don't get mugged or whatever. Time your visits around less busy times of the day, when there is less chance of heavy foot traffic. In my area, this is pretty much all day on Sunday and the hours between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM, and then from about 7:00 PM onward.

I've never actually had anyone other than some school kids point at me when I was out and about with my doll. And in all fairness, I would have stared too. After all, it was January and I was hiking up a snowy hillside from a river. The kids were on the bridge, coming back from school. I must have been a pretty funny sight.

Here's the truth:

Most people are so afraid other people are looking at and judging them that they don't have time to look at or judge you.

Instead of thinking of the worst case, think of the good what-ifs. What if you inspire someone else to get out there and do what they dream of doing? What if you make a new friend?

So get out there. Get some nature. Play with some crazy doll angles. Use some trees. Use some playground equipment.

Get your knees dirty. You can do it!