44 Incredible, Non-Aesthetic Things You Should Thank Your Body For Being Able To Do

1. Hiking to the top of a mountain and taking in the incredible view.

2. Feeling the ocean on your skin and the sand between your toes and the warmth of the sun on your face.

3. Dancing until your feet hurt.

4. Laughing until your abs ache.

5. Hugging people – really, tightly hugging them in that way that releases oxytocin or whatever.

6. Sex. Sex. Sex.

7. Giving you a shot of pure adrenaline when you need to go kick some (hopefully metaphorical) ass.

8. Healing naturally from physical wounds.

9. Breaking down your muscles when you train and building them back up even stronger than before.

10. Conveying the way you’re feeling using a single facial expression.

11. Shaking the hands of important people.

12. SLEEPING.

13. Smelling freshly baked cookies.

14. Giving and receiving massages.

15. Talking to someone you love for hours and hours.

16. Running until your legs ache and your lungs are on fire but your mind sees God.

17. Feeling a warm breeze on your face in the summertime.

18. Stretching out your hands to feel the first snowflakes of the year.

19. Finally sitting down when you’ve been on your feet for hours.

20. Feeling the warm water envelope you when you slip into a bathtub at the end of a long day.

21. Breaking out in goose bumps when you read something incredibly profound.

22. Letting a puppy fall asleep in your lap.

23. Staying up until 4am and getting that sort-of-stoned feeling even though you’re perfectly sober, where it feels as if time has ceased to exist.

24. Waking up with someone else’s arms wrapped around you in a warm bed on a Sunday morning.

25. Crawling under the covers in a cold room at the end of a long night.

26. Holding a warm cup of tea in your hands.

27. Meditating until your breathing slows to a crawl and you feel perfectly tranquil and at peace.

28. Lying in the grass, listening to the babble of a river with your eyes closed.

29. Holding a toddler’s hands as they take their first steps.

30. Taking in the smell of springtime.

31. Having a long, hard cry that you’ve been holding in for too long.

32. Holding a newborn baby in your arms.

33. Jumping off a cliff into water and feeling the rush of weightlessness on the way down.

34. Eating anything cooked over a campfire.

35. CREATING LIFE (Or facilitating the creation of life).

36. Slipping into a comfortable onesie.

37. Climbing a rock face or a tree or anything else your inner child feels an indescribable need to scale.

38. Drinking just enough wine to feel all giggly and happy.

39. Kissing.

40. Belting out the words to your favorite song at a concert or in a club or at a karaoke bar or alone in your room.

41. Downing water when you’re dying of thirst.

42. Showering off days worth of dirt and grime when you come home from camping.

43. Smelling something that instantly brings back a flood of happy memories.

44. Breathing in fresh, crisp morning air and remembering what a miracle it is to even have a body at all.