In this holiday season, we wanted to take a moment to wish you peace. It’s the thing we hoped for when we wrote Family Don’t End With Blood – that everyone who reads it will realize that you truly are not alone, and find the peace that comes with that validation. Not that we don’t all feel alone sometimes, because we do – but that’s the point. The actors who play our favorite characters on our favorite show (that would be Supernatural for anyone new here…) opened up when they wrote this book and shared very personal things about themselves, including their most difficult challenges and struggles, because that is the only way for us to not feel alone. We need to know that others have stood in our shoes and faced similar difficulties in order to feel validated. If those others are Jared and Jensen and Misha, or Kim and Briana and Ruth and Rachel, or Matt, Mark, Rob, Gil, Jim and Osric – then that validation is powerful in a different way than what we usually get. We all, both actors and fans, have struggled with anxiety and depression and that persistent fear of not being good enough. We all need to find acceptance and feel like we belong and have felt like we didn’t. The cast and the fans who shared their stories have all been there, and shared that with great courage – so we hope that when you read FDEWB, you can feel it.
I thought I’d share a few of the things that Jared, Jensen and Misha wrote for anyone who needs a reminder today of what this SPNFamily is all about (and why we have the Best. Cast. Ever. And the best fandom too!)
In his chapter, Jared opens up and tells the intensely personal story of his struggle with anxiety and depression – and how the Supernatural fandom taught him what he needed to know to keep fighting:
The fandom has taught me to Always Keep Fighting. More often than not, the fight sucks. But I guess what’s why it’s a fight. The fandom has helped me realize that there will be a brighter day on the horizon. It may be further off than you’d hope, but it’s there, and if you believe that and commit to fighting through hardships, you will find that peace.
As Misha says in his chapter:
Not everyone has a supportive family around them to help get you through the hard times. But luckily, in this SPNFamily, you may have landed in a supportive and loving community – a community that has your back.
That’s also why FDEWB benefits Random Acts and Attitudes in Reverse – because we are a community, and we do have each other’s backs.
Jensen puts it this way in his chapter:
You see, we’re not strangers anymore. You’re not strange to me. Of course we’re all a LITTLE strange – and we take the little bit of strange in each of us and mix those little bits all up together, all of us, and that’s why we love the relationship we have. You’re family.
That pretty much sums up what we wanted to say to the Supernatural fandom. We hope that every time you read Family Don’t End With Blood, you remember just how true that is and it brings you some peace and joy.
Happy holidays from all of us, and we look forward to seeing and hearing from all of you in 2018!
–Lynn