"Finding one's feet" is an English expression which is metaphorical rather than specific to Aqua standing up. "If you say that someone is finding their feet in a new situation, you mean that they are starting to feel confident and to deal with things successfully."
Taking a doll somewhere is possible. My experience is that one can do so provided one exudes confidence, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do, with a professional demeanor.
So on the occasion you might have seen where Chloé gatecrashes a Cannes Film Festival party, it's a matter of carrying her in
and saying "Hello! This is Chloé - she's a celebrity" as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world for a celebrity to be carried into a party.
It has to be done in the manner of a bit of a conscious performance.
Likewise at her birthday party at the Beau Rives hotel in Juan les Pins, a table had been booked for 12 and with friends behind me I walked in carrying her announcing to the reception "Hello! This is Chloé - it's her birthday!" The receptionist's response was "Hello Chloé". In more mundane situations, such as the scene at the motorway service station, or at the bar opposite the Juan Casino, if explanation is required one simply says "This is Chloé and I write stories".
So perhaps this might give you encouragement and confidence to do things. During the Cannes Festival it's even easier as everyone is used to stunts of one type or another on the Croisette. Another good time to do things is the last week of October or first week of November when things are still open and people are bored and willing to engage in a sense of humour.
A big smile on one's face and working quickly and efficiently gets one a long way. One mustn't dawdle - as was my problem working with the film company - be professional about what one's doing and clearly there for the purpose of taking photographs in the situation or place.
What one must not do is to evoke the "Lars and the Real Girl" image of a person in love with a fantasy of the opposite sex on the assumption of being incapable of relating with another human being.
But this is only possible with a doll that one knows to be robust enough to work with and which one knows one can carry out appropriate repairs if necessary. It's also possible for me because Chloé is of a weight that I can carry still with a spring in my step. Whilst Brigitte's Hubbie has done the wheelchair trip with Brigitte out and about, I would not want to work with my doll with the wheelchair image.
Perhaps in the above there might be encouragement and ideas. When one succeeds it's most invigorating, and as well as bringing the doll to life, gives an extra boost to one's own life.
But it's not an immediate step to take and one that is only possible when one knows how the doll behaves and finds the character that he wants to express.
Best wishes,
Harem