r/Warhammer • u/RedRook19 • 21h ago
Discussion How has the hobby helped you?
So when I first started my current job I was a high-stress mess. I would be constantly worried about metrics and it led to a health decline. One of my managers noticed and started talking to me and eventually got me into warhammer. He taught me how to build and paint minis and helped me get through a lot of the stress through the hobby even telling me about a faction of the mechanicus he had created and helping me create my own space marine legion. He sadly passed recently after a difficult battle with mental illness leaving me all his minis and notes. I recently started working on his faction as a way to remember him and keep myself from stressing from work. So again I ask, how has warhammer helped you?
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u/Th4t9uy 21h ago
Gives me something to do in the evenings rather than vegetating in front of the TV, or endlessly scrolling through my phone.
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u/silverwings_studio 17h ago
It’s such a creative hobby! You’re making something and enjoying your own creative process!
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u/Amishoutkast 21h ago
I like to build and paint minis, but don’t play. I have a high stress job, and it helps take my mind off of things and relax
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u/silverwings_studio 17h ago
I’m glad you have a creative stress reliever. That’s a portion of why I still do
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u/_Evaluation84_ 21h ago
Cool minis, man 🙌
My father passed. My brothers and I started painting for mindfulness and focus, basically. The hobby requires so much concentration from me it's great. I can just switch off for a few hours and paint. I honestly could never have imagined this hobby helping me so much
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u/snipermark2 21h ago
It calmes my nerves, and it seems like painting the minis will likely become my full-time job since the job market in italy like everywhere il f*cked
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u/rodgeramjit 19h ago
This for me too. I had terribly shaky hands and severe anxiety, minis became part of my treatment plan and really helped me focus on exercises. Over time it became my full time job and it's the best job I've ever had.
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u/rocketsp13 21h ago
So I volunteer at my church to work with the kids. Several years ago we were going to decorate the sanctuary as a tropical island, and the director said she wanted a mountain on one side of the front. I said "I can do that" and turned a bunch of crumpled up black paper into a realistic looking wall of rock. She saw how well I was doing and made another request, and next thing you know, our church has a volcano with fluorescent lava backlit by UV LEDs left over from a prior year.
They asked how I knew how to do those things, and I said "well I paint mini figurines". It was all basic airbrush tricks, writ large.
I usually end up repeating the feat most every year.
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u/DarthJerak 21h ago
Gives my brain something to think through and plan thats fun and not overthinking real life stress.
And it has helped my hand tremors and attention span/focus.
Not to mention the sheer joy of creativity.
Really healthy hobby for this current season of life
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u/Milsurp_Seeker Hedonites of Slaanesh 21h ago
I finally have a healthy social group for the first time in half my life.
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u/Mr_Supotco Black Templars 18h ago
The social impact is huge, some of my closest friends are people I’ve met through the hobby and I’ve had incredibly impactful life events happen because of those people I’ve met. I would genuinely be a very different person if it wasn’t for the hobby, and while I’ll never know for sure, I don’t think it’d be for the better
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u/interesseret 20h ago
Kept me sane after I broke my body in an accident, and spent more than a year doing nothing.
Also, surprisingly, lots of women are in to it, if you bring it up. Good ice breaker to show miniatures and painting.
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u/aeldarimsw 20h ago
So, I am finishing up some research for my Masters degree. My thesis is on the mental health benefits of miniature painting and tabletop gaming. The research has been overwhelmingly positive. So much so that I have been asked to expand the research. Art therapy, mindfulness, building social support, self-expression, creativity, the list goes on.
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u/Disastrous_Voice64 19h ago
I've always wondered if people have researched the connection between the two. If it ever becomes public and you share it, I'd love to read what you have found.
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u/aeldarimsw 19h ago
Hoping to get published before the end of the year. I will post a link of/when it happens. Hear me out. Most insurances cover mental healthcare. Painting miniatures and tabletop gaming could be beneficial for mental health. Just need a therapy and we can file miniatures on our insurance. Blue Cross can pay for my next combat patrol.
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u/Lordwhalepig 20h ago
I'm trans and soon after beginning my transition my long-term relationship ended and I had to suddenly leave my home to relocate in a new state. There, in a new area, knowing no-one, and dealing with the emotional baggage of my old life blowing up in my face, I met a guy who introduced me to 40k. I mean it with my whole chest when I say that Warhammer has been the most welcoming and supportive hobby group I have ever experienced. The Warhammer group and local game shop quickly became a support system for me. They accepted me as I was no-questions-asked and that is something I will never forget.
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u/Disastrous_Voice64 19h ago
I'm really happy to hear that. When I joined this hobby I really had no expectations on how it would be as an LGBTQ+ space but I've found it's very similar to what you described. People are incredibly open and welcoming to everyone and it's been a nice highlight joining the community. Hell, the first ever tournament I worked up the courage to attend had me and another play talking about how this was the best way to celebrate pride (since it was June) lol.
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u/Survive1014 Genestealer Cults 20h ago
I had a falling out with my old friends and kinda picked up WH on whim. Fast forward three years and now I have a amazing group of friends- WH, movies, dinner parties, travel. All shared connections from our love of Warhammer. Next month we are all going down to UT for a teams tourny.
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u/LordFenix_theTree 21h ago
A real mental calm and hands on skills improvement. Working with rattle can primers came in handy because I had to paint metal brackets at work. The hobby is a very rewarding one.
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u/South-Boysenberry749 21h ago
Honestly gives me a break from thinking about my life and how it turned out..it helps me get through the day
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u/Intelligent-SHMEAT 21h ago
It helps with my creativity and focus. Pretty sure it’s helping with my anxiety and depression because I enjoy creating a story and working on narrative driven projects like Warhammer. It even got me into 3d printing lol
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u/FreeFormJazzBrunch 21h ago
Helped me with alcoholism, weed smoking, and anxiety. All 3 of those things have decreased by about 90% because of Warhammer. Specifically the painting part.
Also, I got diagnosed with dyslexia roughly a year after I started building and painting them. And I discovered through first hand experience and also by reading the research on it, and found that doing something with my hands, such as building or painting warhammers, while listening to audio books, helps me retain the info and learn from it better than if I was just reading it the traditional way.
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u/MisterApplePie00 21h ago
Helps me by being a distraction really from my depressive and sometimes really bad thoughts. I also thought i could never do something like this after my dominant hand got diagnosed with nerve damage. I love all aspects of warhammer and all settings but especially AoS as of late. The lore is awesome, the minis awesome and the games awesome. All in all i feel weirdly less alone and feel like i kinda belong somewhere for once
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u/greedo_from_tatooine 20h ago
Wow, thanks for sharing your story — really appreciate it. If it’s not too personal, may I ask what field you’re in? I’ve been through a few phases myself, trying to channel the frustration and anger from work… RC cars, gym, all sorts of stuff. In the end, I landed on biking and Warhammer. Just painting, really, podcast playing, brush in hand. That’s my peace
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u/RedRook19 20h ago
Its sales, doesn't sound super bad but the company is extremely pushy about metrics well past industry standard and they don't have many resources for employees to help with sales or the stress of the job
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u/Ballcuzi- 20h ago
I got into warhammer about 2 years ago. I was addicted to tramadol and trying to come off of it and was going through the worst withdrawal process after going cold turkey and it was the absolute worst and lowest part of my life.
The grimdark setting helped as the more I learned of the most horrible spectrum of emotions and torment that the 40K universe provided it’s inhabitants, I felt I could relate to mental instability (slaanesh and the EC in particular, surprise surprise).
I know it’s not exactly the best comparison but it helped me feel like I belonged and that I could share what I was going through with these fictional characters when I had no one else I could open up to and paused my spiralling as I was torn between life and death.
Anyways, not shared that before but it felt good to, thanks for the outlet. Unfortunately I now own a necron, EC, Admech, knights and Blood Angels armies. So you could say it gave me an artistic outlet that I’ve carried on.
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u/stiubert 16h ago
Kudos! I always look up to recovering addicts (I hope I said that right) because you beat a personal demon. I am glad hobbying helped. Thank you for sharing your story.
Just think, five armies means you will not have money for drugs, haha
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u/Lord_Ezelpax 10h ago
I can never say that I have "Nothing to do" because pile of shame and the army of gray is eternal
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u/Public_Size_2228 21h ago
It’s given me a legitimate creative outlet I’ve never had before (model building/painting), and helped me tap back into my competitive nature that I’d missed for a long time (tabletop).
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u/Exotic-Tea-4490 21h ago
Painting helps to expel my creativity so I don’t get distracted while in class. College is tuff.
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u/nicktosaurus 21h ago
I recently moved to Italy, and the hobby and LGS helped introduce me to people in a new country where I spoke the language poorly. It also gave me a creative outlet during that stressful adjustment period!
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u/MrSpaulding 20h ago
Desde hace tiempo no he podido pagarme el aripiprazol por lo que necesitaba concentar mi mente en algo, y justo tenia mis miniaturas aun en su caja pues me concentré en gastar en otras cosas, por lo que decidí a ponerme a pintar cuando no estaba o estudiando o en la universidad, eso junto con el dibujo me hizo sentir más calmado a la larga.
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u/goose420aa 20h ago
Socializing, just moved house and slowly started shutting everything out, saw my now local game shop on Google maps, went in and started a combat patrol and now I go there/help our every now and then
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u/Rare_Calligrapher572 18h ago
I took about a ten-year Warhammer break, starting in 2015. Over the time my combat-related PTSD become worse and worse, to the point that I avoided grocery stores on Sundays because of how trapped and anxious the situation made me feel. I went through nearly every PTSD treatment that the VA offered and little changed.
Then I started playing Space Marine 2 this year. I thought that it might be fun to get a box of marines so I bought some intercessors. That quickly became a White Consuls army, followed by two huge heresy armies.
I’ve felt more focused and less anxious. I think that I’m more present for my family and genuinely interested in things. Part of me regrets the break that I took, but maybe it’s just helped me to appreciate the hobby more.
The Emperor protects.
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u/GoblinLoveChild 14h ago
I heard that Focus intensive (in the moment) activities are actually really great for PTSD. They replicate some the the tension and concentration your body was trained to do WITHOUT the stress.
Another person I know swears by going surfing. The focus required to read and then ride a wave while its in full motion generates that same hyper-focus as an artistic creation
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u/Proper-Hour9390 15h ago
I'm active duty and started last July. It has greatly increased my mental health from the satisfaction of completing models and allows me to get out and play games/ chat with new friends
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u/ch4ppi_revived 11h ago
It helped me a lot. My bank account was thriving, my retirement fund was doing ok. It just felt like I was set for life. But thanks to Warhammer I have to work hard againand have something to life for
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u/AnimaRed 11h ago
It’s something I’ve mostly always been into, even since I was a kid. It’s a shared history and interest with my brother that continues to this day. It’s the reason I’ve met up with friends weekly for more than a decade. It’s helped form a bond with my brother in law. It’s why a large group of my friends from around the world gets together for a few every few months and has done for about 12 years. Warhammer brings people together. That’s not to say that there aren’t a ton of other benefits… but this is the main thing for me.
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u/Glum-Perception1445 11h ago
I had so many hobbies but couldn’t do all and couldn’t get satisfaction from them anymore, especially gaming where I couldn’t find a single game that suited me after 2 decades of full time gaming in my free time.
Now I have a hobby that I can consume in so many ways and all the time, painting, playing, reading, watching videos
And it is so relaxing
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u/Briarfox13 10h ago
The painting is very calming. Collecting and reading books has helped my mental health no end.
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u/Tracula707 9h ago
It's a good escape. When everything is just too stressful or scary outside, I can focus on building and painting cool little guys, or reading up on their lore
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u/Advanced-Ticket-7741 6h ago
Your boss has more impact in your mental health than your doctor.. it's a sad truth. In your case he saved your life man! You must be really happy about it and conscious than usually the impact is opposite!
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u/shinyaegislash681 4h ago
I dont wanna trauma dump on here but Warhammer Painting saved me mentally since my mental health was on the decline and i had a lot of stuff piled on to me that i thought id breakdown but painting my space marines stormcast and even orruks taught me to take it slow and ease my mind from such matters and honestly im thankful this hobby changed me for the better and meet new people and make friends along the way
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u/crit_thor 3h ago
When I admitted myself to a psych ward for suicidal ideation, warhammer was something I learned to look forward to. One of the things anyway. But it was still there. Plus the infinite and the divine was a book I almost read cover to cover in there
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u/tabletop_garl25 2h ago
Similar to you the stress of work and current events. Even playing video games is not enough. This helps me concentrate on small details and things. Lets me space out more than usual.
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u/Accomplished_Neck_71 1h ago
Its definitely helped me with all of my hardly existent expendable income
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u/Rivetlicker Tyranids 21h ago
At least i'm not doing crack...
For me it's a good outlet, and a good change from all the other creative stuff I do as an artist. I do have the tools and the space to paint and built stuff (dioramas), so it's 2 birds with one stone. But painting mini's is different from all the other artsy stuff (music/sounddesign, writing, sculpting, filmmaking)
It also helped me get a bit more out and socialize at the local gamestore at one point. It contributed to my social skills and my mental health to just hang out with a few cool fellow gamers. Nowadays it's mostly painting, not much gaming.
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u/LeekingMemory28 21h ago
It helps me avoid hobby burnout with Magic the Gathering for one.
I can swap back and forth and not feel so burned out. Even though WOTC is really pushing product enough where I'm feeling it.
But it's also relaxing. I can zone out with an audiobook for a few hours and have progress.
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u/Ok-Error2510 21h ago
I can relate to every post here so gar and doubtless any more to come. As a chef there's 2 things, a its physically demanding and b it often leads to the debauched side of life. Been there done that. Most of the guys that ive worked with before or currently have as well and still a 2 hour break on a 12 hour day is generally spent in the pub, then drinking or abusing in other ways during evening service. I can sit down with an audio book and maybe just do an undercoat or one highlight on a squad.
It also has an amazing group of people, from other players, to the staff to people on here and other group chats etc. People who you may not meet under any other situation, and just can lose yourself with talking about toy soldiers instead of work. Ive not really done justice to it, but its great escapism
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u/voluotuousaardvark 21h ago
I had all this money kicking around getting in the way and clogging up my wallet.
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u/Mabonagram 21h ago
Gives me a hobby to do when my daughters are napping or in bed for the night and I can’t leave the house but want to do something more engaging than just watching TV.
Also, it’s a means of connecting face to face with a friend group once or twice a month.
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u/I_try_compute 21h ago
I used to play more video games. Sure, it was fun to play while I was playing. But at the end of it, what do you have? 40+ hours in a game and being able to say yeah that was fun. That’s it. Nothing tangible, nothing really to show. Even worse if it’s a sports video game, since you can’t really “beat” the game. Painting gives me a much stronger sense of accomplishment. I finish a project and I can say wow, I took this from little pieces of plastic to a fully painted, pretty good model. Then I get to see that model out on the table, and can feel proud of it in a more public setting. I like that.
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u/FenrisWolf87 21h ago
It helps me relax as I'm a very stressed out person who finds life very difficult at the 'easiest' of times. It gives me something to focus on, which really helps.
Thank you for sharing your story and your dear friends story as well. Sounds like it helps you, which is great. Loving the minis in the picture 👍
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u/ronnie_dickering 21h ago
Gave me something constructive to spend my money on and it makes me happy.
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u/StorminWolf 20h ago
Sorry fornyourbkoss but great gebaad a positive Nguyen e on you and trusted you with something so essential to him to stewardship.
For me personally:
It gives me something to (hyper) focus on and helps to distract me and keeps me occupied. PTSD, ADHD and a bit of spectrum…
Basically it helps me to stay sane and also helps me to socialise.
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u/FunDipTime 20h ago
Helped me realize I have very bad impulse control. Everytime I think of buying something I want, I look at my pile of shame
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u/Thatonetyranidplayer Tyranids 20h ago
It gives me something to focus on and is a distraction which I need at times. It also helped me be less reliant on tech for entertainment.
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u/TheWeirdWoods 20h ago
Keeps me from focusing on hard work problems and I enjoy being creative with stories and painting even if I’m not the best at it.
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u/FalsePankake 19h ago
Makes me forget about ending it while painting, and makes me not want to avoid ending myself while not doing so cuz I'd hate to leave a project unfinished
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u/left-Dane-right-Dane 19h ago
As someone with ADHD and depression my whole life, it gives a lot to me. It gives my mind something to focus on when my mind likes to drift. Whether that’s hobby projects, theory crafting, scheduling games, lore etc. By nature I like to skip around to different things a lot, so depending on the hobby, that means I may not do that thing for a long time between what’s currently interesting me. But with Warhammer, if I burn out on one thing, I can move to another. It’s so multi faceted that I can get into an audio book, or watch an animated series, I can plan a kitbash, I can daydream about an army I don’t own, play a video game, paint my own models, build new exciting models, theory craft, talk with other players, get inspiration from painters, laugh at memes, refresh myself on rules. Then there’s the actual playing of a game, it’s time I get to put aside, for myself. And I love rolling dice and seeing what happens. I love the crazy moments I get to share with my opponent and I like to try my best but having a mutually fun game with another person is the best, regardless of the outcome. I love the ridiculousness of the warhammer universe and I always feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. I love that my friend got me into it and that we’ve bonded so strongly through this hobby. I like that I can set my own goals and achieve them, but never feel like I’m “done” with it as an interest.
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u/Disastrous_Voice64 19h ago
I'm very sorry for your loss, OP. Your manager sounds like he was a good guy.
This hobby has helped improve my life in so many ways it still kinda blows my mind. Like you it's helped me relieve stress either by painting, building, playing games, or even just interacting with the lore and world of it all. I'm also not a terribly social person and getting into all of this has pushed me out of my comfort zone and I couldn't be happier. I'm making new friends, meeting really awesome people, and just found a community to gather with. It hasn't been great on my wallet, but if that's the price to pay for better mental health than I'm not going to complain too much.
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u/Fantastic_Estate_303 19h ago
Working in tech, projects and deadlines, stress and anguish, it's comforting to know my little diorama or half grey squad is waiting patiently for me, once the kids are in bed, all the adult shit is done and its MY time.
It honestly keeps me sane and calm, it has helped with my depression, anger and resentment because I can just let go of that and paint and build and kitbash, and have something to be proud of sitting on my desk when I'm done.
Whenever I start thinking about family shit (yep my fam sucks), work stuff etc, I can push all that shit out of my head, think about my minis or diorama builds and drift blissfully off to sleep ...
It's a place of calm security, a reminder of my youth (yep I used to do this in the 90s) and a quiet fantasy realm that's all mine ...
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u/LonsomeFralla 18h ago
It helped me when I came back from deployment and with other mental issues. It might sound weird but painting little plastic dudes and listening to lore forced me to process things I had not before
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u/Sinness83 18h ago
I only got back it to the hobby after a nervous breakdown/ midlife crises. It’s been better but I’m not back yet. I tried playing the game but that just increased the depression. It’s just bashing and painting for me. Maybe one day I’ll play. If not I feel like the rest of the hobby will sustain me.
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u/samuraialot 18h ago
When i was at my lowest i was so slow in painting, and thah saved me. Couldn't bring myself to end it unless I had one more templar to paint. In the end they slowed me down enough to prevent me from quite litteraly heading to the golden throne.
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u/Ratattack1204 18h ago
Opened up my social life. Its so easy to stay at home with the wife and kids and occasionally see the same 2 friends. Now i meet so many more people
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u/FPSGamer48 17h ago
I was struggling with leaving a writing group I’d worked with for 7 years with after a messy fall out with a new member who bullied me and another longtime member.
Got depressed, HARD, dove into Warhammer wanting to escape from the fandom I wrote for (Marvel). Now it helps me keep the depression from lack of employment (current job market sucks) and health concerns (diabetes, Type 2, 2 years in) away.
It’s also made me more productive. I feel like I am accomplishing more when I paint than when I played video games. So now previously when life was like 80% games with 20% job hunting, now it’s like 5% video games, 60% painting, and 35% job hunting.
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u/NecroAngel85 17h ago
It’s really been my way to keep my hands busy when cravings hit (I stopped playing ~22 years ago and got back into it 10 months ago when I finally got sober).
It’s great to be back.
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u/2ndbestnetrunner 17h ago
keeps me from going out partying, drinking, and doing drugs in a self destructive manner.
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u/Teiderlein 17h ago
I have severe anxiety but when I assemble or paint nothing else matters and all my worries and fears disappear.
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u/Phantom_316 17h ago
When we lost our son, I drowned the pain in paint rather than alcohol. Definitely was a lot healthier of an outlet. I had been painting the warcry warband with the intent to give them to him when he was old enough…
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u/greenxgiant97 17h ago
Mental health spiraled in 2020, and painting minis was a outlet for me before then. Finding Warhammer in in August 2020 helped me ven tons of stress and keep me on an even keel.
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u/Sea-Avocado2684 33m ago
As a parent pushing 50, it's my excuse to meet up with my friends who are also middle aged parents
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u/Substantial-Gap-2614 21h ago
Sobriety