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8 Reasons To Be Grateful For Your Wild Side

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I’ve been working on increasing my gratitude lately. If you’re not familiar with the idea of “adding” gratefulness into your life, let me tell you – it’s not always easy. At least, not at first. After a while, it becomes second-nature, and you start to see all sorts of things in a light you never thought was possible before. But first, you’ve got to practice with the “easy” stuff, like your material things and your “overt blessings”. Those blessings-in-disguise won’t reveal themselves until later.

Looking back at my youth, it’s easy to pick out the things that I (now) feel were mistakes. Things like sneaking out of the house, partying, and even polyamorous relationships… None of which are things I still do, because they weren’t right for me, but at the time, they were exactly what I needed.

Why should you be thankful for the things you’d rather forget?


1. It taught me what’s important to me.

In my case, it taught me that partying wasn’t for me. For some people, it teaches them that partying is important to them. But if you only ever do what you’re supposed to do, you’ll never know what you really want to do – only what’s expected of you.


2. It exposed me to different types of people.

I made some really amazing friends when I was partying, and I’m still friends with some of them, even though I’ve left the party scene. In some cases, it feels like such an accomplishment that we survived these stupid decisions together. In other cases, we’ve bonded over how boring our lives seem now that we’re out of the party scene. In both situations, I’ve met friends who I never would have been exposed to if I hadn’t been a part of that crowd.


3. It’s an important rite-of-passage for many young(er) people.

Whether you personally felt the need to party, or just did it because your friends were doing it, there’s a reason that partying appeals to most people: It’s fun, and it marks the end of your innocence in a way that doesn’t (necessarily) involve sex. It’s not automatically a bad or irresponsible thing to do – in fact, I worked full-time while I was partying and never borrowed money for it. Being wild and crazy was not one single choice – it was a series of smaller choices. Some of them were irresponsible, but they were all my choices to make.


4. It doesn’t have to last forever – but it doesn’t have to end, either.

In my personal situation, I’m especially grateful that my wild side never fully defined me. Although I went to raves, I was never “a raver”. It was an experience, not a lifestyle, and I never felt pressured to stay in that life. When I was ready to give it up, I gave it up. I know if I want to go back, the scene will welcome me with the same arms it welcomed me with before.


5. It gave me some interesting stories.

On my 18th birthday, I made the decision to take a definitely-not-safe amount of drugs, and ended up walking around downtown Reno looking for someone I wasn’t even 100% sure was real. That’s not something I would ever consider doing again, but I did tell that story a few dozen times before I finally ended up finding the Missing Possibly Imaginary Girl about a year later at a different party – which just led to another scene in the interesting story.


6. It was exactly what I wanted at the time.

It’s almost implied that people will “outgrow” their wild side, at least for the most part. But while you’re choosing to be involved in that scene, there is a reason you identify with it. For me, it was a matter of belonging to something, without being submerged in it. I could party on the weekends, and be a professional employee during the week. I never felt obligated to fit in, because I knew that the scene accepted the parts of me that I wasn’t always able to accept from myself. And, back then, that’s exactly what I needed.


7. It’s an escape from the mundane.

I already mentioned that I was a part-time partier when I was in that scene. It can be exciting to see people who otherwise seem so polished and put-together, breaking all the stereotypes you may have assumed about them – and realizing that you, too, are defying the assumptions that they have about you. It can be something different, and different is beautiful.


8. Because, damn it, it was fun.

Even though I made a number of bad decisions when I was younger, that’s the point of being young and stupid (so to speak). I made mistakes, and I learned. I did things that I can’t even believe I did. I did things that I’d never even consider doing again (such as the large amount of drugs I consumed in a short time period). But I had fun, and I didn’t have to worry about “what might have been” – I just made it happen.

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