One of the saddest places you can find yourself is in the comments section of any given YouTube video. Another is in bed with someone that used to love you much more than they do now. You know these as facts, but there you find yourself, reading and reading into.

It’s not quite masochism. It’s more like having quite little will power. It’s more like being unable to change direction once you’ve got momentum. So, you keep on scrolling down to see just how much blind hate strangers have for each other. And you keep sleeping with someone that would rather sleep alone. And you’re up for hours just thinking about what an idiot you are for doing what you do.

One of the happiest places you can find yourself is at the very top of your favorite roller coaster at Six Flags, the greatest America. Another is on the road in tumbleweed country with a good girl by your side, when you’ve left your mind and entered some sort of silly, cathartic limbo. Fast and forward, pedal to metal, gunning for the sun.

You can’t win them all. You can’t win most of them. You actually can’t win many more than just a few. But, you can watch a video all the way through without checking to see what users concealedcarrie14 or Can't Stump Trump have to say. You can stretch out in bed and sleep like an ‘x’ marking a spot that’s all yours. You can buy a can of Coke for reduced admission price to a kitschy theme park. You can hit the road, hard and for days. High hope is dangerous, but moderate hope, say the height of a Christmas tree, is A-OK.