I started writing 1000 Awesome Things on June 20, 2008 as my life was swirling and twirling.
It seemed like every day was cloudy as every morning I’d wheel my car up icy onramps straight into red-light traffic jams to head to my office job in the suburbs. Then I’d wheel back home the same way, every day. Frozen burritos and back pain, up those ramps and down again, my life seemed stuck in neutral with a black scribbly cloud above my head.
One night after work I went online and typed “How to start a blog” into Google. Ten minutes later I wrote #1000 Broccoflower for a quick smile before bed. As my marriage crumbled like crackers, as my best friend sadly took his own life, I was trying to push from back pain to grass stains and from microwaves to wedding buffets.
Nobody visited the site except for my mom. Although I did get pretty excited when she forwarded it to my dad and the traffic doubled. Then on July 18, 2008 Fark.com linked to old, dangerous playground equipment and thousands of people suddenly came in waves. It was strange thinking that cyber travellers spinning on the other side of the planet maybe thought broccoflower was funny, too.
And here we are in 2011 after jotting down one awesome thing every weekday for the past three years and it’s been such a rush. I feel so massively lucky that I’ve had a few extra hours each week to chat with you all about bakery air, rain hair, bubble wrap, and illegal naps.
The Book of (Even More) Awesome comes out today and the first book has been #1 on bestseller lists for a year. Cybernerds called us best blog in the world and next week the awesome movement hits The Today Show before flying around to meet awesome believers everywhere.
I don’t know how to thank you for all of this.
The only way I can think of is to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for reading, thank you for listening, thank you for commenting, and thank you for spreading our big screaming all-caps word of
AWESOME!
The Book of (Even More) Awesome hits stands today! (Some countries release on Wednesday or Thursday as well.) For those who have theirs, what do you think?
The Book Launch of Awesome happens tonight in Toronto at the Indigo Bay / Bloor at 7pm. Hope to meet some of you there!
The App of Awesome launches today and will be free for 5 days on iTunes! Thanks to the geniuses at Bonobo Labs for creating it.
Finally, one more massively sincere thank you for all the support, everybody. I really can’t say it enough.
– Neil
— Photos from last year’s launch —
its a kind fo LOL!!!!
:~) congradulations .. that is awesome
sitting here thinking about all the stuff that is not awesome that has my back against the wall.. I read your words.. and I smile daily , even during this difficult time because of your awesome words…
may you sell a million books reminding people daily of the awesomeness of the world…
and to us all seeing our own awesomeness and the continual flow of sharing
I was watching tv a couple days ago and I saw something about your book of awesome
Thank you never seems to be enough when you acknowledge the impact of someone so life changing, especially someone you’ve never met. Since visiting your site, I’ve approached my profession and life in an entirely new way. Teachers often lament that it’s the “little things” that get you through the day. Acknowledging those moments has been an awakening for me (it seems you strike a chord with teachers).
Imitation must be a sign of flattery, as I try and write about those moments in a similar vein to you. I love it, my coworkers get a kick out of it, and it makes me feel the way your writing does. Caps locks and one exclamation mark full of
AWESOME!
Neil, we love you dude.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart for making a fifty-something grandma smile—day after day after day. You are AWESOME ♥
Thank YOU!!! :)
Guess who ended up on Fark again? That’s right, you did, with this other nugget of Awesome.
Aww, group hug, anyone?
I went through my own ‘hell’ last year and from that my business was born!
Fantastic blog and congrats on all your success!
Abegail
http://www.abegailbarriosdesigns.blogspot.com
congratulations, neil! :) you deserve this – you worked hard for it. thanks for sharing your awesomeness with us, and reminding us all how good we really have it.
Congratulations on the new book!
Something that is awesome…randomly seeing yourself in a photo from a past book signing posted on someones blog!
A belated thank you here, too, Neil.
I stumbled on your blog after watching your talk on ted.com and have been coming here frequently since. It’s great that I know where to go whenever I feel down and need something to smile about.
I introduced your blog to the students in my class, and I’m sure they feel the same way too.
So once again, thank you thank you thank you. :D
Thank YOU for your witty and wonderful posts each week & congrats on book two!
I can’t believe how fast the time has flown since I first discovered this blog. From the smell of crayons, to sneaking candy into the movie theatre, to finding out what song is in that commercial, I’ve been loving this site since I had the good fortune to stumble on it and appreciating the little things in life just a little more with each post. Once you’ve hit the #1 AWESOME-est thing, you’re either going to have to just start the countdown again (’cause really, there must be a zillion awesome things, right?) or come up with a new list, my friend. And that’s an order. ;)
i do like saying thanks. thats great.
Hey, I don’t know if you’re gonna read all these comments…But I’d like to say thanks to you. Your blog is awesome! Last year I had very rough times and reading some random posts helped me realize how beautiful life was, and how much I loved a lot of things that I wasn’t aware of.
Seriously, thanks to you..Because is always nice to know that there are people enjoying the little things in life, thinking that life is beautiful and being happy.
Being alive is AWESOME!
Greetings from Chile. I don’t know where are you located, but I will asume that is far away from here like almost all the countries of the world!
:)
Thank you for your almost 1000 awesome things. Every awesome idea leads to another, then another and you realise from just reading one awesome thing on this website, you have already come up with so many more. So thank you for all your happiness and inspiration. I have been following this website for a while and this is my first comment and to whoever gave me the confidence to write this, thank you. Also, something really awesome is that July 18th is my birthday! Doubly AWESOME!!!
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You have done a formidable job and our whole community will be thankful to you.
Thanks for the great info.
Is this the only blog you’ve?
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I genuinely handle about my pet , I conceive this site will help me find out whats good for them, so I book-marked .
Wow, this article is pleasant, my younger sister is analyzing these things, so I am going to convey her.
Reblogged this on 1000awesomefriends and commented:
A year ago Neil gifted us with this post, and what a fitting thought for today. We have so much to be thankful for, not least the wonderful journey of 1000 Awesome Things that has now come to an end! Any requests for the final few awesome things before May 1? All regular contributors should have received an invite to be a “contributor,” so leave a comment if you haven’t and I will resend. The new Journey of Awesome is just days away, stay tuned!
Thanks so much! That is genuinely wonderful to hear!
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