The early 2000s TV show "How I Met Your Mother" is not hard to fall in love with. From the very first episode, you are hooked. Like any decent television show, you begin to feel like you’re there with the characters. You feel Marshall and Lily’s love, Ted’s desire to fall in love, Barney’s adventurous side and Robin’s independence. Through all the laughs and tears you shared with them, you realize that this isn’t any ordinary TV show; you are actually learning valuable life lessons such as…
1. “Yes, chances are Stella and I are not going to live happily ever after. The overwhelming odds have it ending badly. And when that happens it’ll be one of a million possible reasons but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.” - Ted
Ted is a hopeless romantic. He is constantly searching for someone to fall in love with. Robin even tells him once that he has “that look like he wants to fall in love and get married and have kids and drop them off at soccer practice.” That’s exactly what Ted wants, and he is passionate about it. He stayed up on the roof until 2:43 a.m. waiting and hoping that a girl he met years ago in a pumpkin costume would appear. Although his friends think he’s crazy, Ted continues to be hopeful.
2. “Well if I have a passion, it's taking life and turning it into a series of crazy stories.” – Barney
Barney lives every day like there is no tomorrow. Every night has to be legen- … wait for it … -dary! When everyone else just wants to sit inside, he wants to be adventurous. Barney teaches us to be daring and step out of our comfort zone. He constantly refers to himself as being AWESOME, and he definitely loves himself too much. But we are all awesome and we sometimes forget that. Barney also shows us that it’s okay to tell ourselves we are awesome.
3. “It’s a cockamouse!” – Marshall
Marshall believes in Bigfoot, aliens, ghosts and crazy creatures like a cockamouse (a cockroach mouse hybrid, he says). He is like a child in the sense that he believes in the things we are supposed to believe in – like Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. Although his friends roll their eyes at him, he stays true to his beliefs. We have a difficult time standing up for ourselves sometimes, but Marshall inspires us to stand by what we believe in no matter how ridiculous it may be.
4. “You can’t turn off the way you feel.” – Robin
Robin isn’t romantic at all really. She is independent, a little cold, brutally honest and sarcastic. Robin likes to be an "I," not a "we." She puts her work first in life until she meets Ted. Robin convinces Ted that he can’t turn off his feelings, but throughout the series you learn that neither of them can. It’s a wild roller coaster ride of emotions, but in the end, Robin was right: you can’t turn off your feelings.
5. “…the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you'd go your whole life not knowing if something is a mistake or not.” – Lily
Lily is lecturing Ted about mistakes, and she explains that mistakes are the only way you can learn and find the answer you’re looking for. Even when we know something is a mistake we have to make it anyway so we can look back and say, “Yep, that was a mistake” so that we don’t make that mistake again.
You learn something new with each episode and begin to feel like you are there with them. Soon after watching the show, you will quote these lines anywhere from a casual conversation to a serious discussion. "How I Met Your Mother"is definitely one of, if not the, best TV show of the early 2000s.
