21 Things That Everyone Deserves To Experience
1. Having a friend who does not judge you or look down on you, no matter what, and who really listens when you tell them something important or difficult.
2. Finally going on the one ride at the amusement park that you were always just a little too scared of, but which left you disappointed every time you didn’t get up the courage to ride it.
3. Having a picnic out by the water on a day where it’s just sunny enough to feel warm on your face but not so hot that you can’t enjoy sitting still. (And where the bugs all miraculously leave you alone.)
4. Swimming in clear water, where you can see the bottom even when you are chest-deep.
5. Kissing someone you have really, really wanted to kiss for a long time, and having that whole tingly-body sensation when you realize that it’s just as good as you thought it would be.
6. Sharing your favorite music with someone and seeing the look on their face when they realize that they love it, too.
7. Sneaking a drink when you can’t legally get it yet, and feeling that buzz which comes as much from the danger of it all as it does from actually being intoxicated.
8. Making a mistake that you feel you can’t recover from, and hearing someone tell you — in all sincerity — that it’s okay, and they forgive you.
9. Seeing a city that you have always dreamed of visiting in person for the first time, and feeling like you might faint because it’s so much more beautiful and rich and real than you could have ever imagined it to be.
10. Being so overwhelmed with your new surroundings that you want to photograph every last rock and leaf that you see, and ultimately realizing that you are not going to be able to take it all with you, so you might as well enjoy it while you have it.
11. Going to see a movie by yourself and feeling so connected with what’s going on on-screen that you forget you are alone.
12. Finishing a book that leaves you feeling like you’ve just made a whole group of new friends that you will keep with you for the rest of your life.
13. Falling in love with someone and realizing, in a way you never have before, that they actually love you back just as much — that sometimes, it really is just as simple as that.
14. Holding hands under the table when no one else realizes, because almost everything between the two of you has become like some kind of secret language that only you can understand.
15. Overhearing someone say something nice about you when they don’t know you can hear them.
16. Having a group of friends around you after a breakup which makes you come back to life and understand that things aren’t over, and they are going to get better.
17. Being proven right in an argument in a bar over something meaningless (like the name of an actor in a movie) which is somehow incredibly meaningful in the moment.
18. Running into an old friend completely unexpectedly and feeling like not a moment has passed since the last time you two saw each other, because everything is still so easy and comfortable.
19. Re-watching an old movie you used to love and seeing it as though it were completely new, because you had somehow forgotten about all your favorite parts.
20. Having a really great professor in a class that makes you passionate about a subject you never thought you would care about.
21. Making a difficult decision about which you can say afterwards that, no matter how hard it was in the moment, you made the right choice — and that you don’t regret it because you would not be the person you are if you hadn’t.