You Don’t Need to Outgrow Fandom

Last summer time after I turned 25, I mirrored on being a quarter-century previous — what’s modified and stayed the identical in my life. The reply was, rather a lot has modified. I dwell removed from the city the place I grew up, and it’s been years since I’ve visited. I’m married. I’ve labored longer at my present job than the time my undergraduate diploma took. And having come into my very own as an grownup in the course of the pandemic, I really feel a way of gravity about life I didn’t earlier than.

But although I’ve gotten older and my life has modified in some ways, my hobbies total haven’t. Fandom, particularly, continues to be a big a part of my life — one thing I didn’t anticipate.

One of my earlier reminiscences is of my mother and father watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King DVD at dwelling. I can’t keep in mind a time the place I wasn’t not less than acquainted with Tolkien’s work. We moved away from my hometown after I was younger, and I discovered consolation in studying The Hobbit — hoping that, like Bilbo, I may adapt to a brand new and unusual atmosphere. As I stated goodbye to previous associates and met new ones, the fictional characters and worlds I discovered in collection like Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and Discworld provided a way of familiarity.

I’m not a youngster anymore. I perceive myself higher than I did after I was youthful, and I’ve discovered strategies of dealing with uncertainty that I didn’t know then. Yet fandom continues to be a robust a part of my life. I spend my free time listening to Tolkien podcasts and studying books or papers that analyze his work. My husband indulges me in rewatching Star Trek although he has solely a light curiosity in it. And one in all my most anticipated elements of 2023 is getting to see Aziraphale and Crowley’s story proceed in Good Omens season 2.

Sometimes I’ve caught myself feeling responsible about this, like fascinated about fictional worlds is in some way frivolous or egocentric. Was there one thing immature about me, that I hadn’t grown out of it when quite a lot of my associates had (or not less than appeared to)? Then I discovered a memoir that grappled with comparable questions.

This is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch explores writer Tabitha Carvan’s realization as a brand new mother or father that as individuals develop up, they’re usually anticipated to hand over pursuits which might be seen as “silly” or “unimportant.” As a youngster, she liked boy bands. But she felt that a part of rising up meant placing away pursuits that didn’t have a function or assist others indirectly.

Until, many years later, she developed a brand new ardour: this time, for British actor Benedict Cumberbatch. At first, she felt ashamed about it. Watching BBC Sherlock and Marvel films didn’t serve a higher function. All it did was make her glad, and he or she wasn’t even certain why.

As adults, we’re usually pressured to discover a passion that advantages others indirectly. Knitting or studying to code, for instance, produces one thing that others can use. But, as Carvan writes, hobbies that don’t do a lot in addition to make you cheerful are nonetheless making a worthwhile factor — happiness.

Though our pursuits differ — I used to be extra of a Martin Freeman fan than a Benedict Cumberbatch fan after I watched BBC Sherlock — her memoir formed the way in which I checked out hobbies I as soon as thought of foolish. Sure, listening to my Tolkien podcasts don’t end in something helpful for others or a transferable work ability (except making an attempt to perceive The Silmarillion is a ability), however they bring about me pleasure and luxury when life is difficult. And I believe that’s one thing everybody deserves.

In a approach, it’s like a geekier model of the road from Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”: “You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

Whether that’s rereading previous favorites, making artwork for artwork’s sake, or just appreciating moments for what they’re, I hope we are able to all discover time for easy joys. They’re a number of the finest elements of life.