Feeling a little down in the dumps? Is the lack of sunshine sinking your spirits? Do you feel as if your life is just completely devoid of meaning?

Have no fear! 1000 Awesome Things is here!

And it’s not only for the slightly depressed. An online website that is completely devoted to finding the small joys in life and then writing funny commentary on them, 1000 Awesome Things appeals and relates to the young and the old, the jock and the nerd, the economist and the artist, tall, short, ‘gangsta’, and Asian, and pretty much everyone in between.

Optimism saturates this blog, without being too sentimental or nostalgic. Neil Pasricha, author of the blog, posts one ‘awesome thing’ every weekday, counting down from #1000 to #1. It began on June 20th, 2008, and will end on April 20th, 2012 (four days after my birthday. Just throwing that out there.), and several books have been published featuring the blog posts written thus far.

But the ‘awesome things’ aren’t necessarily the big, exciting things in life, like driving behind the wheel of a Ferrari or inheriting a billion dollars. Instead, the topics range from #981: wearing underwear just out of the dryer, to #421: singing the guitar solo, to #300: successfully navigating your home in the dark. We are told to remember that the simple things in life are what count, and this blog perfectly captures all of the sweet moments we may think about, but don’t always appreciate.

For example, take #980: old, dangerous playground equipment. Who doesn’t relate to that? Just look at the opening: “Slides used to be dangerous.”

Brilliant, no? Short, simple, to the point, and oh, so very relatable. (Wasn’t the staple of elementary recess going down the slide and swinging on the swings?) And then: “The slide was burning hot to the touch, a stovetop set to high all day under the summer sun, just waiting to greet the underside of your legs with first-degree burns as you enjoyed the ride.”

Yep.

“It also smelled like hot pee, years of nervous children with leaky diapers permanently marking it as their territory.”

Unfortunately, yes.

“Lastly, to top it all off, there were no cute plastic side rails or encapsulated tube-slides, which meant that if you went too fast or aimed your legs poorly, your shoes would grip-skid on the metal, and you’d spill over the side, landing face down with a sickening thud in a bed of pebbles, cigarette butts, and milk thistles.”

Oh, yes, yes, glorious yes!

Doesn’t that make you miss the playgrounds of yore? Childhood? Doesn’t that make you feel nostalgic in general, without really feeling sappy and over-emotional? Doesn’t that make you want to go find an old playground and wreak havoc?

I think that’s what this site is able to accomplish best: it inspires you. Not only to feel better, but to get excited about the little things in life and live, if only for a moment, like a child.

And with that being said, I’m off to the nearest, rustiest playground Harrisonburg has to offer.