Zootopi-ugh
March 24, 2016 § Leave a comment
Veronica writes,
It’s an overload of happiness; what’s not to love? But it’s so messy and emotional and hard to control. I don’t want to cut it out of my life; honestly, fangirling seems like one of the most beautiful things you can do (especially as a teenage girl). But is there some way to control it? HELPPPPPPP. PLEASE. Thank you so much. I hope your book flies off the shelves.
Hi Veronica,
It’s true that time passes more quickly when you’re deep into a ship. You suddenly realize it’s 3am, you’re still reading fic on your phone in the dark, and you have to show up to school or work the next day. Whoops. Or months pass and you realize you haven’t read any book or watched any other TV shows because you’re locked in the situation room.
But when you think about it, fangirls are a lot like tiny rabbit police officers. The odds can feel stacked against us. Society assumes our obsessive personalities prevent us from growing into powerful women. People say that we’re too emotional to focus on the task in front of us. THESE ARE THE LIES THEY TRICK US INTO BELIEVING.
Like Judy, fangirls don’t always play by the rules of a job. But that’s what makes us creative. That’s what makes us notice the details and the subtext that no one else notices. It’s what makes us excellent in a crisis, cause let’s be real—every day you ship something is one day of crisis preparedness training.
Fangirling is messy because life is messy. Life is full of unfinished plot points, character departures, and spinoffs that get cancelled very quickly. If you can embrace the uncertainty that comes with being a fan, then you have the ability to do that in real life.
Consider how you can attack your school work with the gumption that Judy has. It might not be perfect, and you might get distracted by feels from time to time, but you dive right in again and again. You recruit people that everyone else has written off. You learn to encourage each other and prove the haters wrong. You persevere, because that’s what fangirls do. So go do it! And let me know how it goes.
Kathleen
Fangirl Therapy 
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