Why You NEED to read Felicia Day's memoir, even if you don't know who Felicia Day is!

Ladies and gentlemen, one thing you probably already know about me is: I am slow.  Eternally "tardy to the party" to pretty much anything and everything worthy of not being "tardy" to.. that is my curse.

My newfound admiration of Felicia Day is, of course, no different. Admittedly, I only ever became aware of her existence because of Supernatural. But even then, I just figured she was some random actress. Little did I know she was oh SO much more than that, and had an already-established and even bigger presence in the world of geekdom than I realized! For shame, on my part. I hereby apologize to you, Miss Day, that I was not one of the early pioneers of your devoted fan base that you spoke of in your book, but I just operate on a different wavelength than the masses, it seems. 

I finally finished Felicia Day's amazing memoir earlier this month, and I so wish I could give it more than "five stars"! It's going to be next to impossible to put into words why I adored her story so much, but I'm going to try anyways. Basically, her story was exactly one that I needed to hear, (er, read), at this point in my life. And I believe EVERYONE could use her honest message in their lives. And here are some of the reasons why:

Felicia Day taught me that:

• it is NORMAL TO BE WEIRD

Let that sink in for a bit. It's pretty much the whole message of the entire book. But honestly: have you ever been so confused (or maybe even embarrassed) about certain things in your life, like your family, or the way you were raised? Things that make you feel like "surely, NO ONE else in the world has had to go through this kind of stuff. I must be some kind of freak".  Basically, no, you're not.

Seriously, don't worry about it.

Felicia herself had one of the weirdest upbringings I had ever heard of: she never really went to school, but she was never truly 'home schooled', either. Yet somehow she still managed to get accepted into a huge university and graduate with TWO degrees.. basically, her oddball early existence is what somehow made her into who she is today.

So the next time you wonder if you're the biggest weirdo in the world because of something completely random, remember to use it to your advantage.

And along the same lines of that:

Felicia Day made me realize (and finally accept) that..

• It is not only OKAY to be exactly who you are, but that it's the ONLY way to live your life.

 And that's not to say that you won't feel like a loser from time to time, but if you compromise on who you are, or pretend to be somebody you're not, for even one second, you'll ultimately feel a million times worse.

So do the things you love, be a huge geek about the things that you are a huge geek about. All that matters is that you're happy, and when you are, then you can make others happy, too.

 

 

• No dream is too big/impossible to achieve (but you can't do it completely alone, either): work HARD, don't compromise your visions for anyone, Don't Give Up (it's okay to make mistakes - they don't define you)... etc.

 I was absolutely fascinated by the story of how she created her web show "The Guild". So much pain and sacrifice went into the filming, but it was her DREAM! And she saw it through to the end, even though there were times she wanted to give up on it completely.

And it was also a lesson in letting others help. She never would have been able to accomplish the series on her own, but the people she did allow on board also didn't make her change her vision. She and her team never sold their souls!

 

 

• It is OKAY to get help (and to be sensitive, neurotic and anxious) 

In times of stress, it's easy to get caught up in it, worrying about everything and everyone else around you that you forget about yourself. Felicia was very open in this book about her own struggles, and how certain things were wearing her thin, but also, how she finally got the courage to DO something about them.

Stress, anxiety, and depression are things that affect ALL of us, from time to time. And it's perfectly okay to admit that you can't go it alone, all the time. It doesn't make you a loser for asking for help, or for saying "no" when you need to. (A lesson that some of us are still learning, but it's nice to hear it from someone else!)

And finally, I just want to thank Felicia Day for being a 'big sister' to us all. With this memoir, she let us in on the "behind the scenes" world of being an atypical actress in the world of Hollywood, at such a crazy time in history. Through sharing her experiences, not only with the Hollywood-thing, but with the internet world, and situations like "Gamer Gate", she makes me feel a little braver about stepping up and doing my own 'internet thing', without fear. She's been there, (was often the first in a lot of things), she's giving us advice on how to navigate the tricky waters, and most enlightening of all: she's survived.

She's survived a great, many, weirdo things in life. And so can each one of us, dammit.

So thank you, Felicia, for your honesty, and your humor. It's really changed my life.