Submission from @findingbetterdays

I cannot remember I time that I wasn’t in a fandom; even if I was not an active member of the community, I always enjoyed reading other peoples’ analyses, looking at fanart, and just seeing that there are people that are into the same things as I am.  Growing up, I really only felt as though I had one friend who I felt a real connection with, especially with similar interests and fandoms.  Eventually we grew apart, but that’s another story, we’re best friends again, needless to say.  When we grew apart I had no one to share my excitement with, I felt incredibly lonely, so I decided to turn to the internet.  At this point in my life, I was going through a really rough time with my self esteem, but I found in the internet community a sense of purpose.

I have never really been super involved in a fandom or even remotely popular, but it didn’t bother me, I still felt welcomed.  I’ve been in and out of a few fandoms, some really stressful and drama filled, others really fun.  For me, it didn’t really matter, as long as there were people around me enjoying the same things, I was happy.  I didn’t need to be included, I didn’t need to have countless numbers of fandom friends, I just needed the sense of community.