When Your Friends Are Fandomless

So your friends suck

Friends are awesome. As a general rule they tend to like you so that immediately makes them cool (with you at least) and you tend to be able to get along quite well with them. However just because your best friends for life doesn't mean you share all the same interests. Now that can be okay when one of you is really into soccer and the others really into ballet. It can get a little more tricky when one of you is a hardcore super mega fangirl and the other just well, isn't. If you're one of those lucky guys or gals that has never faced this issue because all your friends are super mega hardcore awesome fangirls too then I HATE YOU! WHY? WHY NOT SHARE HUH?! Sorry I just, uh get a little jealous sometimes it's no biggy. In an ideal world everyone would be a fangirl... hey hang on , no, no! That is not a good idea. It would be messy and sassy and yes awesome but chaos. No, okay so scratch the world of fangirls thing, in an ideal world all fangirls friends would be fangirls. But the world we live in is less than ideal. Us fangirls have to cope with the fact that for some of us our friends just don't understand when we get super mega hardcore excited when a new episode of our favourite TV show comes out or why we're crying at two in the morning when we finish a book and one of our beloved (and sometimes *coughalwayscough* hot) characters die. For some of us it's easy to deal with this. For others not so much.

Here's my helpful hints on how to have a great friendship despite one of you lacking fangirlyness.

1. You are friends for a reason. Your interests should not define your friendship. Sure it's great if you do share interests but you don't have to like everything they like and visa versa. That goes for books and TV shows as well. Why are you friends in the first place? Surely not because one of you is a fangirl.

2. Try not to let that fangirl part of you dominate your friendship. It can be extremely exhausting and especially so for someone who just won't get it which is in no way their fault. Not being a fangirl isn't a crime and it isn't something you should put your friend down for. They might have interests which you can't relate to such as an obsession with history or whales. Does it bother you? Probably not, but they're most likely kind enough not to bring up the whales ALL. THE. TIME.

3. Find fangirl friends. No I am not saying replace non fangirls friends, what I'm saying is find some additional friends who are also into fandoms. This will help a lot. You'll get that fangirl part out of you with them and save the other stuff for your fandomless friends.

4. Do not try and convert them. This NEVER EVER WORKS. Ever. Believe me I have tried. You need to find the fangirl dark side yourself. Forcing it on someone (who probably isn't a suitable convert candidate anyway) isn't a good idea and it is usually never successful. It's just exhausting and damaging for both you and the friendship. I have first hand experience in this and no matter how hard I tried none of my friends wanted to swap stories about how amazing The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments were or search Dan Howells Tumblr tag. Be considerate to your friend. Also they don't try and force their love of whales on you do they? But if they do THEN maybe some pay back is in order. Maybe.

5. Don't get mad about it. Try not to defend your fandoms too much (I know this is very, very, excruciatingly hard but it's important). You have to accept that they just simply are never going to be able to relate to that part of you or understand your very healthy obsession with fictional men.

6. Stay true to who you are. No matter what you do in life you need to be you. Hold your head high and walk into every situation thrown your way confident in who you are. This includes friendships. It can be really hard to have a friend who doesn't get the fact that you value your books more than your hair and even more so when all your friends are this way. So don't ever, I repeat, ever let go of the fangirl part of you because everyone around you just doesn't understand. If being a fangirl makes you unique then GO YOU! Uniqueness is not a bad thing. In fact I think it is a fabulous thing and believe it or not a lot of people find it an attractive thing. Don't be a clone. Be you. Be a fangirl. Be a hippie. Be a nerd. Be a god damn cat for all I care. Just be who you are. Being like everybody else is completely overrated and utterly boring. Just because your friends with someone doesn't mean you need to be the carbon copy of them. AND they don't need to be you 2.0. They are who they are and you are who you are. I know it's so cliche but its true. Just be friends. Enjoy each others company. Laugh. Cry. Eat. Obsess. Eat. Sing. Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat. Be silly. But do it all together. That is what makes a great friendship. As well as being able to realize that food is life and God.

I hope you all have awesome bosom buddies.

xoxo Fangirl Out.