When was the last time you felt absolute, unbridled joy?
I’m talking about the kind that fills you up from the inside, like a balloon that’s expanding to touch every part of your body, until you’re so elated you wonder if you might burst.
The kind you want to live inside forever, with total disregard for the notion that an inherent part of what makes moments so special is their transient nature.
I experienced the power of this kind of joy last week at the Backstreet Boys concert at the Vegas Sphere.
For 90 straight minutes, I screamed and jumped and danced with my girlfriends.
We flung up our arms and professed our love to “the boys” with all the restraint of crazed teenage fans (which is to say, zero restraint).
We didn’t care if we were cringe. In fact, cringe was a part of the point.
All it takes to reinforce the power of negative emotions is a quick flip through the news or scroll of social media.
Fear. Sadness. Hopelessness. Jealousy. No need to seek these feelings out; we’re basically beaten with them daily.
Joy, however, takes effort.
I was SO FREAKING HAPPY every second of the entire day leading up to the concert.
Even the outside of the Sphere is a spectacle.
The anticipation, the playing of BSB throwback hits as we did our makeup and applied body glitter, and even walking into the Sphere alongside our fellow Millennium-blue-clad friends all heightened the euphoria.
In fact, the entire experience was so joyful, I’m still basking in its aura nearly one week later. I’ve had to wash my concert tee twice, because I can’t stop wearing it.
As soon as we got home, we started looking up ticket prices to see the show one more time. When something feels this good, you can’t help but want to repeat it!
In reflecting on the experience, I pieced together some of the elements that made it so expansively jubilant.
I can’t responsibly buy concert tickets and hop a plane to Vegas anytime I want to experience deep joy, but perhaps I can put myself in more joy-prone situations to give myself a taste of it more often.
Captivated doesn’t even begin to cover it.
A major part of seeing a show at the Sphere is experiencing the Sphere itself.
Think of it like a super-sized IMAX-meets-concert-venue. The graphics and music are completely encompassing.
In brainstorming ways to create immersive experiences outside of a concert venue, I kept coming back to what “immersive” means.
For me, it calls to mind a total, absolute presence in the current moment. At the Sphere, you can’t look away. It commands your complete sensory presence.
The closest I come to this kind of presence is when I’m in nature, but I’d be kidding myself if I said I’m totally immersed. I’m almost always listening to an audiobook or music.
Contrary to what popular opinion says about being in nature, I think that’s completely fine and is not why I struggle to be present.
I feel more immersed in nature when I have a soundtrack.
I find silence more distracting than not. Having an on-vibes playlist (folk music does it for me when I’m hiking) helps me get into a moment.
What I could be better about is turning off my voice notifications. Siri will read my texts and Slack messages to me aloud, which is handy when driving but definitely distracting when they come over my headphones while hiking.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, another place I find myself completely swept away (literally) is on a roller coaster. I never cared for them until I met Ben.
For our last date before he went into the Peace Corps, he requested we spend the day at Six Flags riding coasters over and over until the park closed at night. I’ve loved them ever since!
An amusement park in Stolkholm, Sweeden. As soon as we spotted this coaster, we knew we had to squeeze it in.
Here in Park City, we have a mountain coaster (a cable pulls you up, then the mountain’s gravity is what speeds you along the track; it goes fast).
Now that I’ve written this, I’m making a point to ride it before the season ends.
We’re physical beings, and our bodies are a natural way to express joy. When I’m at a concert, or on a dance floor with friends (admittedly rare these days), it’s a taste of total joy.
Another place moving my body brings me into a place of such joy that I forget the world around me: group spin classes. I’m talking loud music, lights, and choreography that I completely mess up but love trying anyway.
I’ve done SoulCycle in NYC a number of times, love Peloton Groove rides, and I hit up Revive anytime I’m visiting my sister in KC.
You know why dancing at weddings is so fun? Because everyone looks ridiculous and no one cares.
Truly, it’s hard to have a better time than dancing at a wedding with your besties after you’ve all had a couple of glasses of champagne.
While a social lubricant like alcohol or gummies can help loosen things up, I know it might not be everyone’s preferred option. This is me telling you to get out on the floor and shake it anyway.
You’re not making a fool of yourself. You’re living!
With all things ‘90s being the rage, I’ve been thinking about what makes nostalgia so attractive and powerful.
(Need an example of said power? Low-rise jeans are back in style.)
For me, nostalgia takes me back to a time when I had fewer worries, and therefore felt more free.
Dancing at the Backstreet Boys transported me back to my childhood friends’ basements, where we’d choreograph songs to their music, N*SYNC, and Britney Spears, then force our parents and siblings to watch us “perform.”
Adult Erin can’t ignore her responsibilities and bills, but she can make more of an effort to shelve them during important moments so that comparably care-free Childhood Erin can shine through more often.
As electric as the concert was on its own, I wouldn’t have experienced the same peak-level joy without the company of my girlfriends.
We matched each other’s hype and let our freak flags fly.
Never forget that being your most authentic self, in all of your glorious cringe, gives the people in your life permission to do the same.
Can you think of a time in your life when you’ve experienced powerful joy? Times when you felt fully free? I read every comment, and I’d love to hear from you!
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