To Whomever Finds Themselves Reading This Letter,

To you my dearest stranger, you’d never believe yourself if ‘end of the year you’ told ‘beginning of the year you’ all that the year would bring, all the good and bad and everything in between. Yet, if I had the opportunity to talk to January me, I’d tell myself that I was going to be forced out of my comfort zone, embraced by new friends, and plunged into a sea of unknowns. It’d all be worth it though, since I’d be coming out the other side a better version of myself.

With 365 chances to experience life, unfortunately, it sometimes feels as though the days slip by or blur together, but this year there was one day in particular that undoubtedly was the best and became my favorite–September 3rd. After this day, my life felt like it spun around on its axis and that I finally came up to take that long-awaited breath of fresh air.

Like many great things in life, September 3rd was unexpected. It initially started as the day I’d finally meet up with a random online group I had joined over a year before. I saw it as a fun opportunity to meet new people and worst case scenario, I never had to see them again if it didn’t go well. Carpe diem, right?

Ironic that, soon after saying ‘yes’ to attending this hangout, I was also convinced to go skydiving the morning before our big meetup. Not only would I finally be marking off one of the top items that had been dangling on my bucket list for as long as I could recall, but I’d also be doing so with a bunch of strangers.

September 3rd awakened with sunny rays, blue skies, and on-edge nerves. Even as I drove up to the airstrip, even as I signed a 12-page waiver, and even still as I stepped into my harness, I couldn’t believe today was the day I could actually accomplish such a monumental thing. Surrounded by strangers, embraced with contagiously bright energy, we soared to 13,000 feet, jumped into the clouds, and felt blissfully free. A spike of fear, rush of adrenaline, and pure, ecstatic joy all filled my core. Freefalling was incomparable to anything else I had ever experienced and it was everything I wanted it to be. When the last of us stepped foot back on solid ground, an unspoken pact of friendship was already formed, even if we didn’t know it yet.

After a morning like that, what better way to continue the day than to attend the actual hangout that began it all. Meeting up with my skydive buddies again, we gathered on the beach and soon more and more people arrived. We listened to music, ate, drank, swam, and talked the day away. No matter which way I turned, no matter which stranger I talked to, I was met with smiles, laughter, and genuine conversation.

Our festivities continued until the sun set and darkness covered the beach, except, no one was ready to say goodbye. Hopping over to the nearby bars, we began dancing. And danced we did until we couldn’t anymore. Hopping, spinning, twirling, head banging, and moving any way the music took us, happiness surrounded us all.

Barely believing the clock, we wrapped up our day 21 hours after it all began. As I rested my head back on my pillow that night, I could hardly believe all that happened that day, how much I truly felt fully alive, and how genuine the people were. It’s something special when strangers can come together and instantly have an authentic connection about life, passions, and the dreams we share. Though I hoped to see these kind-hearted, incredible individuals again one day, September 3rd me would never believe what was soon to come my way. How so many of the ‘strangers’ I met that day would very soon become intertwined into my life and me into theirs.

Call it destiny, irony, coincidence, chance, or just life, our stories now all included each other. The days, weeks, and months following September 3rd were packed, near overflowing, with new life experiences. I now found myself surrounded by profound opportunities to make memories with these strangers that unexpectedly and effortlessly became some of my nearest and dearest friends.

So to you, my other fellow, dear stranger, think twice next time you are given the opportunity to say yes to an experience, to start a conversation with someone new, or the chance to step outside of your comfort zone. The unknown, that’s right on the other side of something you may fear, might just be exactly what your life and soul needs.