10 Reasons Why Being a Fangirl is Awesome // guest post

Hey everyone! Today is an exciting day, because we have my buddy, Olivia, over to visit! She's written us this brilliantly accurate (and not to mention hilarious) list of the perks of being a fangirl. Thanks so much, Olivia! 

• Fangirling is fun! I mean, who doesn't love the idea of defending Camelot beside Merlin, solving cases alongside Sherlock, protecting Storybrooke with Hook and Emma, or carrying the Ring safely to Mordor with Frodo and Sam? Good stories are basically the best ever, and fangirling just takes our appreciation to the next level.
  

• It forces you to examine WHY you appreciate your obsessions instead of just...obsessing over them.

• Fangirling makes you a better writer! The more good characters you watch, the more good characters you'll create; the more plot twists you see, the more you'll be able to use in your own work. The more trauma you suffer at the hands of a fictional person, the better you'll understand how to inflict such pain on your victims elicit such powerful emotion in your readers. Also, the potential for vocabulary growth is endless!

• You meet awesome people who love the same things you do (and everyone loves new friends, right??)

 

• Sometimes being able to identify with a fictional character can be cathartic instead of totally destroying. (Key word being sometimes.) Maybe you feel like Sherlock sometimes, with one thousand and four ideas swirling around inside your brain all the time. Or when you see Merlin forced to keep his secret again...and again...and again...you realize, "hey. I know what that feels like."

• Fangirling helps you to empathize more with other people. (if you can have sympathy for Loki...you can try to understand that mean person who keeps eating your cookies at work EVEN THOUGH they are CLEARLY LABELED with your name.*)

*although to be honest, if this happened to me I'd probably just cry

• It can be very entertaining/inspiring. Bored? Go read some fanfiction! Or write fanfiction! or draw! Or laugh yourself silly over your gif collection! The possibilities are endless, and when you're feeling like you have nooo ideas at all...it's okay to borrow someone else's characters for a while, just to keep those writing muscles in good condition. (I'll tell you a secret -- I've written fanfiction before. Not a lot of it, and not publicly...but when I get the urge to write, and I have no ideas, it's a great way to satisfy myself without being endlessly frustrated by my total lack of original ideas. Or any ideas at all, really.)

• Watching Netflix gives you the opportunity to drink lots of tea. Which is ALWAYS a good thing. (are you up for a sad episode? You'll probably want a soothing Orange Pekoe. Is it time for some excitement? Let's try the new mint tea hidden at the back! Is it a season finale? ....better get the whole teapot ready.)

• It helps you deal with disappointments in life. (like those....*cough* ...season finales...)

• Mostly, I love fangirling because it gives me a chance to slip out of my own shoes and step into someone else's for a change. I like being able to escape the mundane routine of school, and work, and life in general, and go somewhere exciting! I like the emotional rush I get when my favourite characters overcome something big, and when I'm having a bad day, I like being able to experience someone else's world instead of my own; to reassure myself that yeah, there are still happy endings.*

*this does not apply when watching British television. There are no happy endings on BBC.

**kidding. Kind of.



Hannah, thank you SO MUCH for letting me guest-post on your blog! I loved putting this post together and getting to look more closely at why I love throwing myself off emotional cliffs being a fangirl so much.


Are you a fangirl (or fanboy)? What do you think of my list? Agree/disagree completely, or are you somewhere in the middle? Let's chat!



Olivia is an 18-year-old fangirl and capital-R Romantic who loves small towns, stacks of books, and enormous cups of tea. She is also enamored with British television (although for the life of her, she couldn't tell you why!) She asks too many questions, would prefer to go barefoot anywhere (and everywhere!) and would someday love to visit Wales.
Olivia keeps a little blog down at the cwtch, and would be tickled pink if you stopped by to say hello!