Eight Years Later: How 'Game of Thrones' Has Changed My Life

Game of Thrones is a phenomenal television series. It's crazy because it gravitates to so many different groups of people. In the past, I didn't think much of it and brushed it off as another television series that I'd never want to watch.

I remember the first time I've ever heard of the series. A friend of mine mentioned the TV show to me. She told me that it was a fantasy medieval world where there's dragons and people are fighting each other for power. If you knew my friend, she is definitely not the kind of girl that would watch such a series. She freely admitted it to claiming that's how she knew it was a good series.

At the time I had just finished Breaking Bad, another great series that I used to watch with my brother. We caught that late so we kind of binge watched that series.

I believe maybe two years had passed since my friend told me about Game of Thrones and a few other friends started to mention the series to me. It was kind of a shock because I have a great variety of friends. Some of my friends are into arts, some into sports, some into business, and so on. They all came to me raving about this show.

Luckily, one of my good friends was able to provide me with some of the older episodes of the show. I start watching and immediately I was intrigued. Soon as I knew it I was done the first season and then the second season. All of my friends were right about this series! I fell in love with the show.

Soon I was buying each season on Blu Ray so I could catch up to everyone. I became that guy that told others to watch it and started getting others hooked to the show. The whole damn thing was like a pyramid scheme!

I had finally caught up around when season 6 was finishing up. Season 7 was when things started to change. I would be having conversations with my friends and strangers about Game of Thrones. We'd talk about theories and what our predictions were.

This wasn't so different with other shows except for the fact that there were so many beloved characters involved in Game of Thrones that it was a lot more lively and fun. Everyone had really creative theories and that was part of the fun in these conversations.

When season 7 started up I didn't have HBO so I would have to sneak myself into places to watch it. I didn't really like season 7 of the series as I thought it was pandering to fans but the way I watched it made me enjoy it a little more. We had more of a group setting for watching season 7. The shock and excitement was amplified because of the group atmosphere. It's sort of like going to a playoff game in an arena full of fans. Now that's a little exaggerated but you get the idea.

Now that season 8 started I thought I'd continue on with the tradition so I bought a subscription to HBO and invite all of my friends over every Sunday to watch the newest episode live. We'd all bring some food and have predictions and enjoy each other's company while we all collectively get shocked, excited, sad, angry, and happy. I realized that this show has brought us together when we would have otherwise been watching it ourselves and texting each other what we thought.

We don't need to do that anymore we talk about the show together and it's a real treat and I feel that I've become closer to all of them because of this show. I feel that I can become closer to not only my friends but complete strangers as well. Game of Thrones has been a great ice breaker for conversations and getting to know people. I hope television will continue to come up with shows that can bring us together like Game of Thrones.