At the Strand of Nightmares

A Post

Current Listening Pleasure: Trilogy- Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Ah, I love me some ELP 😊😊
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I've noticed that there really are a lot of posts out there like "the struggles of being a fangirl" or "FIFTY REASONS THE CLASSIC ROCK FANDOM SUCKS EVEN THOUGH I'M IN IT," and I'm just like,

Boi.... let people live their lives and stop wallowing in the negatives.

Anyways, I'm going to write a reactionary post to this:

"Why I'm Grateful For My Time as a Fangirl."

Granted, don't get me wrong, tropes do annoy me, but as far as I'm concerned, we all have room for improvement with anything, and that includes writing fanfic. Therefore, for individual writers, it's their choice if they wish to improve. If not, they do it merely for enjoyment and because it makes them happy.

Anyways, here's to my post:

1. It broadened my worldview
I'm telling you, until the age of thirteen or so, my world was pretty damn small. However, accessing the internet, and in particular connecting with people from all over the world over common interests threw open my doors of perception and helped me see things in ways I never had before.

Who would have thought I'd have acquired friends in France, Greece, Australia, The Philippines, Poland, etc. over the course of two years? Not I.

2. It gave me a sense of continuity
I went through some serious changes from eighth grade until now, but one thing that has never changed is my passion for music and the fandom. It gave me something familiar and good to return to no matter what was going on in my life. All I'd need to do is turn on my iPad, go on the internet, and I could take comfort in knowing in some little way I wasn't alone.

3. It helped me accept myself
All during grade school, I never had anyone my age with my taste in music, and I'll be honest, that really sucked for me because music was such a defining feature for me. However, when I joined the CRF (classic rock fandom), it showed me I wasn't alone and it helped me love that part of my personality.

4. It helped me define myself
So, this really only occurred to me in the past couple of days, but the fact of the matter is, I desperately NEEDED this fandom in my life during my teenage years, and honestly, I still do.
When I tried to remove all traces of me ever having been a fangirl (getting rid of old band tees, getting rid of my posters from my room, deleting photos off my iPad, and literally anything that reminded me of the time), initially I felt great. I thought I'd "matured." This was the 'new me.'
Well, lol, that's not exactly how it worked.... soon enough, I realized I felt hallow and gutted. By cutting out friends, interests, hobbies, and style I wanted to define me, I destroyed what made me unique. I felt crushed.
So, I rescued the bands tees, re downloaded a bunch of pics, and have been going mildly crazy over fangirling for the past couple of days.
Do I care? Not really. This is me, and this is how I wish to be for as long as I want. I'm not hurting myself or others, in fact, I know for a fact I'm happier.

So WHO GIVES A SHIT IF I DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP MY OBSESSIONS?

5. It helped me realize my favorite passions and hobbies
The truth is, without the CRF, I never would have experimented with writing as much as I did. I mean, I always liked writing, but this gave me a big impetus to perfect it.
Also, I think being inspired by various keyboard players and the support I received from my fellow fandomers helped me realize my path in life... which is music. (Duh, that's what I'm going to school for XD)

6. I met some of the most amazing people I could have ever met
Okay, I'm not just saying this, but y'all here that are reading this really are one of the best things that could have happened to me.
We bonded over a shared love of music, and then it flowered into something so much more.