No matter how crazy my friends think I am, I love boring things.

I get excited at the thought of flossing every night. I look forward to going to the bank and seeing my favorite tellers. I get giddy with excitement whenever I write an email. I get joy out of going to the DMV and waiting in the long lines.

Recently, I flew for the first time, and even walking through the stressful airport terminals excited me. Sometimes I question myself, what is so great about these things when so many people hate them? I honestly don’t know. I just love getting out of the house, interacting with others, and feeling productive, no matter the situation.

What’s better than doing laundry? What’s better than sitting still in traffic while listening to your favorite songs on the radio? My friends also know very well that I absolutely love school, though I don’t consider that a boring thing.

I’m very lucky to consider myself a happy person, which is probably why I don’t mind certain things that someone else may be dreading. Within the past few years, I’ve tried my hardest to grow as a person and to build patience and gratitude for the things in my life.

These useful coping skills have helped me bloom into the boring-loving person I am today. Being able to take my time, enjoy the moment, and stay calm is something I try not to take for granted. 

Ever since I was a child–I don’t even remember how young–I was constantly engulfed by my imagination. Feeling oh-so-many emotions and not having any way to say or express them. I always had ideas that I could not speak.

This Valentine’s Day, I want to show my love for the thing that unlocked my ideas and emotions. Literature.

Every time I read a story that reveals some infinite meaning of life, something that I could never fathom of living, of feeling, the cage opens wider. I love how literature can encapsulate any story possible on this earth, and in many different realities our imaginations can only dream of.

Our imaginations, experiences, and life journeys are infinite. Everyone on this planet has so many stories they can tell. Consuming them is even better. Seeing other people’s struggles allows us to form beautiful connections.

They might be fictional characters, but they are born from human minds, built on the emotions and canvases of real people. No matter what format, or frame, the characters will always have the human’s breath of life. I love the way these characters make me feel not alone.

I love the way Aza Holmes from Turtles All the Way Down by John Green made me feel recognized for my struggles with anxiety. I love the way watching the chaos and disruption on Hulu’s The Bear makes me feel strangely at home. I love the way that experience puts me back to when I worked at a restaurant as my first real job.

Literature will always be my home. That is why I intend to take my experiences and make a home for other people, and share what I have to say. It helps me feel free. It is my love, and it is my life.

I love the internet—the World Wide Web! While that might sound typical coming from someone who’s Gen Z, the internet’s impact on my life has been profound and positive.

I’ve loved connecting online with people who share my passions, whether it’s because of the singers of my favorite songs or the actors who bring fictional worlds to life. The friendships I’ve forged online have left a mark on my heart that will last a lifetime.

I’ve met so many people from different walks of life and people from so many different countries. I’ve also found out some friends aren’t as far as I thought.

I love the FaceTime calls with my best friends, El, Kaylee and Ave. We all met because of our favorite show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. I love the weekends I spend in El’s apartment since we found out we live close, and the weeks I spend with Ave in our own little bubble. And I can’t wait for the hug that’s been two years in the making when I finally meet Kaylee in March.

One of the main online spaces I occupy is a place called “agig” or American Girl Instagram, where I’ve met some of my best friends. We all share the same love of one thing, American Girl dolls. 

Over the summer I got to meet a bunch of my doll friends at a sale curated by the Madison Children’s Museum in Wisconsin. As someone who doesn’t have any doll friends in person, getting to put a face to a username (and also play with dolls) was the best thing to ever happen to me. I got to meet friends I had known for years online and also make plenty of new friends I now talk to daily. 

Although the internet has its bad people and bad moments, I love the corners of the internet I’ve found a home in. 

For me, one of the most liberating feelings is to have an idea or concept and construct it into reality. The world would be infinitely more boring if we didn’t have creativity and imagination.

Painting mountains on a canvas, designing games, making music–all of these things require connecting your ideas and concepts to the real world.

We get inspired by others and by nature to create, and then our creations go on to inspire even more people to make things. I love that rush of dopamine when you finish an art piece, or a design, or a song. It’s a refreshing feeling to see the produce of all your hard work, to see your dreams become reality. 

Our imagination and creativity are inspired by our past experiences and other people’s creations, which makes everyone’s creativity important. Some people say they don’t have creativity, but I do not believe that.

I think everyone in some way is creative or imaginative, whether it be something small like a hack you came up with to fix something in the house or just decorating your house for the holidays. 

Humans are innately creative. And I think that is something to love. 

To love means to have an intense feeling of deep affection or to have great interest and pleasure in something.

What do I love? I could say I love my family, but that just sounds so dull. I could say I love my friends or I love to read or that I love to cook, but that’s also just scratching the surface of what I actually love.

What do I really mean when I say I love flowers or I love horses? Is it just their simple existence that I love, or is it something deeper than that? Perhaps I could say I love when the weather cries and its tears rejuvenate Mother Nature, turning the dry yellow grass into the deepest green.

Or I love the way its tears slide onto the leaves of the trees, creating a beautiful melody that could bring me to a sweet soft sleep. I could say I love the moon, but what I actually mean when I say I love the moon is that I don’t just love the moon but I love its illuminating presence that comforts the loneliest of souls on the darkest of nights.

I love its every crevice and every crater, I love the ever-changing phases that remind me we all change but in the end we can still become whole. I love to see giggling children, but I don’t mean that in a creepy way. I mean I love the beginning of life and the innocence in their laughs that brings me joy and reminds me life can be simple and full of laughter.

I love when the winter season comes into full effect and every creature, every tree, every house is completely covered in snow. I love snow’s intricate and delicate design and that to see its beauty, all it takes is focus and a closer look. I love the playfulness of fallen snow.

I love that we can transform it into whatever our imagination thinks of. Mr. Snowman, I love you and I love the way I can dress you up any way I like. I love when I can climb a big hill and slide down with my sled and collapse in fits of giggles. I love it when I come home and can make a sweet, warm cup of hot chocolate and sit by the crackling fireplace surrounded by the people I love.

To love means to have an intense feeling of deep affection or to have great interest and pleasure in something. But what I mean when I say I love is that I love the simplest things and I find the smallest ways to love. To love isn’t just someone or something. To love is to appreciate, to be kind, to be creative.

To love is to be yourself, and that’s all that matters in this worldly life. 

I love the ways that stories come into existence in my mind. How whole worlds pop up with an astonishing frequency, even if I’ll never write about the vast majority of them. The characters I cobble out of seemingly disparate traits, pulled from every source imaginable, from trivia books to YA novels.

The plotlines they then drive, with both authentic actions and development as people. The challenges they have to face and overcome, that bring out both the best and the worst in them. The themes that I’m so passionate about, that I hope readers take to heart after experiencing them through my creations. My desire to see my stories out in the world, to be recognized for my talents.

I’ve realized that love doesn’t have to be restricted to just one thing. For me, love is an enduring passion for something, no matter what ups and downs I experience with it. My passions form the bedrock of who I am as a person.

Obviously, the two things I love the most are reading and writing. I can never get enough of learning new information. I also can’t stop myself from bringing my thoughts down on paper (or more commonly, on a screen).

Most often, the latter takes the form of fiction. That’s why it makes me so elated when I’m able to complete a story, and almost always want to share it with the people I know. That’s another thing I love, too; the satisfaction of having others read and comment on my work.

Whether they praise or criticize it, it’s an essential step in making myself a better writer. The thing that drives all of the above is the love of my life, Total Drama. Ever since I first discovered it at the age of eight, it’s been the heart and soul of my mind, birthing innumerable plotlines, dialogues, settings and characters.

Of course, my autism also plays a role here, and it’s the thing I love the most about myself. It’s the whole reason I’m the person I am now, and I’m glad I can stand out from the crowd this way.

I love meditating and being in the present moment. I love exploring Spotify and reading in my free time on the weekend. I love a lot of music genres but especially enjoy anything new and upcoming in alternative music, as I find any genre blending in music to be intriguing.

I love reading psychological thrillers such as the Charlie Parker series and the book Back Roads by Tawni Odell. I love reading a self-help book whenever I can and incorporating anything along the lines of Ayurvedic practices.

I love cooking and exploring recipes from different cultures. I love skating and running as much as possible, and I love listening to health and wellness podcasts. Some of my favorite podcasts are On Purpose with Jay Sheity and Married at First Sight.

I love home decor and messing around with Spotify’s music editing program every now and then. I love editing anything from photography to music to script writing. I love collecting plants and filling as many rooms as I possibly can with them to create a calming and soothing space.

I love spending as much time outside as possible, whether eating lunch outside or planning day trips to get away. I find that when I do spend time outside that I have more clarity on whenever I have stuck in my head. I love incorporating spontaneity in my life.

And I love dark chocolate peanut butter cups with a La Croix.

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Featured image graphic by Emily Stephens