Photo credit: Amanda Young

I have been deeply fascinated with Reborn Babies for years. Any time a documentary on the topic appears I can’t help but sit and watch the whole thing. It’s considered normal for little girls to play with dolls, but adult women playing with dolls? That’s weird right?

Do you want to be normal or happy?

Unlike other documentary subjects that I’ve watched on this topic, Anasha is completely at peace with her hobby, and understands its role in her life. She married later in life and contracted a serious illness on her wedding day. By the time she had recovered, the time for having children had passed and I guess adopting no longer became a viable option. A psychiatrist friend recommended using doll therapy to help her move past certain things in her life, and that’s how the reborn dolls came into her life. She knows they are dolls, but they allow her to deal with her inner demons (each doll represents an issue in her life that she’s worked through) and they also fill that maternal void that she has in her life.

Is it weird? I think so, I think it’s really strange, but I also think that this is probably one of the healthiest ways she can deal with her issues. It hurts no-one, and she’s happy. Her life motto, “Do you want to be normal or happy?” really touched me. I guess that’s something we all have to deal with in our lives. Do we want to be what society tells us we should be, or do we want to be happy and true to ourselves?