Somebody asked me what made me feel hopeful. Here’s my answer:

• Days I wake up and feel happy even though I have nothing to look forward to
• Days I wake up and know exactly why I feel happy and that’s the best
• The tiny, ridiculous victory of not sending a drunk text
• A free drink, bought by a friend or given by a bartender and not some shitbag in Dockers trying to get in your pants (because his are so bad! Dockers joke!)
• Exact change
• Oh whatever, pretty much the ending of any Disney movie and also Sleepless in Seattle so sue me.
• Your best friend or mother’s opinion of you
• The kind of news story that makes you get all happy before they start talking about Republican debates again and you blow your ears up with dynamite
• When my roommate empties the dishwasher so I don’t have to because really, I might take another day with that
• People who have cute dogs who bop around like they are smiling and well taken care of, because Sarah Maclachlan has taught me that all dogs are in fact suffering and miserable
• Finding an outfit in my closet I actually want to wear and it satiates me
• Nice cashiers at the grocery
• A coat of mine with a dollar in it: “I’m SO RICH” -me
• Good pizza that doesn’t flop down and spill all of its cheese on the plate like an asshole
• A stranger who smiles at you on the street
• Any general stranger who does something nice like opens the door for you and isn’t like ‘oh I’m a dick who you’ll never know!’
• When people acknowledge my sneezes
• Having a really good laugh with somebody you just met and it’s like, oh people aren’t all trash
• A really good view of something, preferably a skyline or ocean. It’s fun to have depth of emotion!
• Solid girl’s night where you finally admit all these feelings and everybody nods and says ‘good job’ and then you barf three bottles of wine 
• Complete silence with somebody 
• That person who produces a stupiddumbidiot grin on your stupiddumbidiot face, hearts hearts LOL stop LOOKING AT ME swooon
• Amy Poehler
• The friends of yours who have ambition and drive and work for stuff and don’t just roll around on the couch like a log 
• Good books that make you want to not turn on the television and waste your brain away, but make you want to sit and read and enjoy 
• A burrito one can be proud of, with no dry rice or chunks of salsa and the cheese is melted
• Little kids who say stuff like “being gay is oh WHATEVER” and you just really hope that the next generation isn’t as lazy as this one and as homophobic as the one before us
• Girls who look like they might be kind of intimidating and bitchy but they’re actually really nice
• Girls who are proud of their bodies
• Girls who stand up for themselves 
• People who seem to have clean apartments and their lives together and you’re like, oh maybe I can do that. There are magazines on their coffee table and matching plates and what IS this world
• The song “This Must Be The Place”
• Sloths
• Any weekend where you relax and don’t feel the weight of responsibility on your weak, terrified shoulders
• That inspirational poster of the cat that says “hang in there” and you’re like “yeah”
• Television that is well-written and doesn’t make you bang your head against the wall to forget
• The third beer that makes you go ‘oh man, everything is so great and you kind of want to hug everything.’
• Any moment of stupid optimism, peeking it’s head out of your brain like a sunbeam
• Good weather
• The rare person who is happy with who they are and it shows
• People on Twitter who don’t constantly make an ass of themselves
• Functional relationships and you’re like ‘hey, don’t want to pelt THOSE guys with oranges’
• That one thought of that one thing that will always make you happy
• A manageable credit card bill, or just the general feeling of being able to handle your own finances like an adult
• The eventual end of both Jersey Shore and American Idol
• Cool parents with cool-looking babies
• 3am in your bed being like ‘okay, I think I got this.’
• Any moment where you might think you actually got this!
• The people that inspire you, push you, change you, awe you, and fill you with the kind of good stuff that makes you think “Hey, I’m glad I know them. Now I want them to think it’s glad to know me, too.”