As a normal twenty-year-old, I exist on social media, especially Tumblr. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh God, she's from that hell site." Trust me, I get it all the time, and yes, I am. I have 4 blogs on Tumblr, for anyone wondering.
It's impossible to exist on Tumblr without getting sucked into the fandoms, as anyone will tell you. Any show, band, or literally any other piece of media you like has a fandom. Anything you find interesting from books to true crime has a fandom. Fandoms build around things that people are fans of, and you'll be amazed just how many people share your interests.
The most terrifying part of fandom has to be the fights. When you love something this passionately, you're bound to have some opinions that other people don't agree with, and fights break out. Think of a Twitter War, but with a lot more teenagers.
This isn't to say that fandoms are bad, though; they're like families. They're usually pretty welcoming, and it's easy to make friends knowing that you have something in common with them from the start. I have plenty of people I chat with that I feel more connected to than the people I see daily. Some of them jokingly call me variants of Mom (the funniest of which has to be Momther) because of how maternal I am and how much I worry about people. I've given and received plenty of great advice, and so many of my friends were beyond supportive in me getting help when my anxiety and depression hit hard. In the middle of the night when I couldn't stop crying and shaking, they were there.
So I started the process of doing an honors thesis in late October, and my fandom friends were right there with me for the ride. They helped me talk out my ideas and vent over the fact that I had to write the same proposal so many times in such a short period of time. They reminded me to stay hydrated and to get some rest. They checked in. They told me they knew I could do it. They did what friends do, and what my friends at home were doing.
And I got approved.
Since starting my thesis, I've had a lot of thoughts and questions. I know why coming out stories are important to me; that's why I'm doing a whole thesis on them. But why are they important to other people? I asked a lot of my friends at school and Facebook friends, but the most open conversations came from Tumblr friends. My fandom friends opened up to me in ways I didn't think they would, and it was touching. It made me really feel like my project matters, and I can't wait to update all of them on my progress over the next year.
Who knew I would make such significant relationships because I like Thomas Sanders? I sure didn't.
