As December draws near, many of us start to reflect on our experiences over the year. Whether it be the goals we reached or the dreams that didn’t quite come true, we become our own harshest critics, and fall into a habit of comparing where we are in our lives with where we’ve been at this point in prior years. For me in particular, I’ve seen a profound difference, and I completely attribute this to the "music festival" scene. Now, before we roll our eyes and move on, take a minute to open up your mind, because that’s exactly what festivals did for me.

This time last year, I had spent most of the previous weeks annoyed with my boyfriend for being gone all the time. Between Tomorrowworld and frequent shows at the Opera Nightclub in Atlanta, he was always following the music. I had been to exactly one festival at this point, and my experience was interesting to say the least. It didn’t make sense to me to spend hundreds of dollars to camp in the dead heat of summer, when I could spend my money on other things I would rather have. I’ll admit, I can be a materialistic person, this time last year you could have offered me a free VIP ticket to Tomorrowland, yes land as in the Belgium experience, or a pair of Tory Burch riding boots and I wouldn’t have hesitated to accept the latter. Before I get ahead of myself, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting nice things, and I do still enjoy spoiling myself occasionally, but after attending Electric Zoo in NYC, my thoughts did a complete 180. Something sparked that weekend, and it caught fire and never stopped. Electric Zoo was my third festival of the year and it was quite literally a life changing experience.

I used to look at festivals and stereotype them the same way many people who have never been do. I didn’t understand the appeal. I didn’t understand the growing hype. In all honesty, if society conducted themselves in a similar manner as those who attend festivals, there would be a lot less hate surrounding us. The biggest appeal the festival scene has to me is the people - the kind, wonderful, brilliant people who make up a festival. You’ll never go anywhere else where you can walk up to ANYONE, and I mean anyone, and spend hours talking and laughing, as if you came there together in the first place. It’s hard to explain, but when you feel it, you know it. I can only compare it to when I was young and my parents would take me to church on a Saturday night – bear with me, I’m really not about to go religious on you – and I would look around and see all these people just completely lose themselves in the music. They would look to the sky with closed eyes and open hearts. I remember thinking how anyone could feel that way about anything, how music and faith alone could make that kind of impact, and how people could just completely lose themselves in a moment like that. This is what being at an honest and true festival looks like. The people are passionate, and they lose themselves in the music and the lights, and they leave behind all their feelings of inadequacy and their constant worry of being misunderstood. We’re all here relishing in the experience, knowing that we’re all the same inside and that there’s nothing you could possibly do in that moment that would be criticized or unfairly judged. It’s an unreal feeling, to be truly and honestly accepted, every fault and flaw made into something beautiful. I understand that there are people who go for the party, and why not? It definitely is a good time. Between the alcohol, the music, and various other aspects, it’s a Friday night out in college on steroids. But for those of us who went and really understood what we were a part of, it’s an adrenaline rush like you’ve never felt.

I take a time out on nights like tonight in particular, as I sit on my couch with the heat on, my favorite channel on the TV, my two dogs laying on the floor beside me, and I start to think how truly and wonderfully blessed I am. I’ve always been thankful for my life, but seven festivals later, I’m thankful every day for my life. I find myself caring less and less about materialistic things and more about making sure I’m the kind of person that’ll be remembered for being full of life and love. I have a deeper appreciation for things and a deeper sense of myself. I want to spend my money on experiences rather than things, and I want everyone to know how uniquely important they are. This is not who I was a year ago, but maybe it’s been who I am all along. I just lost it somewhere along the lines of the pressures of being a young adult in this generation. So please, before you let the pictures and wild stories you hear about festivals dictate your perception, open up your mind. Try it. Go to a festival and completely give yourself to the experience, meet new people, dance and sing and be loud. You are here. Make the most of it and start living.