25 ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ To Remind You How Wonderful Life Can Be

Have you caught the new show on Hulu, Tiny Beautiful Things? It’s based off the book by Cheryl Strayed (author of Wild, which was also made into a movie in 2014.) While the book is a series of advice columns Strayed wrote for “Dear Sugar,” the show follows a fictionalized version of the story as a woman named Clare decides to take over the “Dear Sugar” column from her colleague. Clare is played by the wonderful Kathryn Hahn (Parks & Recreation, WandaVision), who seriously elevates everything she’s in. It’s all about the trials and tribulations of being an adult fuck-up, and how easy it is for us to fall into a pit of despair. But when you focus on the tiny beautiful things? That’s the way to crawl out, to remember how great life can really be.

Even if you’re having a rough time, even if you’re only at the beginning of your self-help journey, even when you’re struggling just to get by each day, look back at these tiny beautiful things that provide shiny little lights in an otherwise dreary existence:

1. Long night drives in the middle of nowhere.
2. Laying on your floor, listening to the song that speaks to you, on repeat.
3. Wrapping yourself in a blanket that’s hot out of the dryer.
4. The long hug from a friend you haven’t seen in forever.
5. The smile and hello from a stranger that sticks with you all day.
6. The little bits of stress you let go when you get your hair washed at the salon.
7. Sipping tea or coffee that’s at the exact right temperature.
8. The moment they first say “I love you.”
9. The moment you first say “I love you” back.
10. Your skin warming under the sun for the first time after a long winter.
11. Staying up late to finish a really good book, not caring that you have to be up soon.
12. Finding out you have something niche in common with a new friend.
13. The moment you realize you’ve come out the other side from a bad situation.
14. Jumping in puddles in the rain like a kid again.
15. The first time your pet climbed up on your lap and snuggled with you.
16. When you got a compliment on the outfit you felt self-conscious about.
17. When you stopped to admire the way the light filtered through the trees.
18. Eating cereal for dinner as soon as you became an adult and could do whatever you want.
19. The smell of bacon wafting in from the kitchen.
20. Talking for hours and only realizing it when the restaurant starts to close.
21. Laughing so much that your sides hurt.
22. Finding joy in someone’s dimples, their freckles, their imperfections.
23. When they said, “I understand.”
24. When they said, “It’s okay.”
25. When you believed them.

Check out Tiny Beautiful Things on Hulu.