The first time is the best time

Dylan Neumann ~Class of 2025

First times are special. They are special because they will never happen again. First times, for anything, are the most thrilling times that will happen while doing that thing, whatever it is. It could be beating a video game, or fishing, or playing basketball, but the first time doing that thing is the most fun. It’s the most fun because you don’t know what’s about to happen. The first time stepping onto a court, or into a boat, or onto that final boss arena, makes your blood pump through your body and spreads a stupid smile that’s impossible to get rid of right onto the middle of your face. 

In my experience, there are two types of first times; the first time doing something, and the first time doing something right. The first time doing something is the first time stepping onto the court, or the first time getting on a boat. It’s almost suspenseful, you can hear your heartbeat and there is sweat pouring down your body like a dam that has just burst. You look at whatever you’re about to face, whether it be a lake, or a boss, or the other team, and you almost quiver with anticipation and excitement. And then there’s the first time doing something right. When you shoot that final buzzer beater shot and win the game for your team, or you catch that big bass that has been taunting you like a jester from below the water surface, or when you see the boss’s health go to zero and they fall to the ground. That is when the impossible smile crosses your face. It stays there like it was glued to you, and it just keeps getting wider. It’s when you just stand there in disbelief and start to laugh. Not a fake laugh, or a laugh of hysteria, but a laugh of pure joy. The world seems to stop and all that matters is you and the accomplishment of doing it right. That feeling will never happen again while doing that thing. You have reached the peak of happiness and you will try to chase that rush like a drug until you die, or you decide to quit whatever you are doing. If there was a way to forget what happens while doing something, to experience that feeling again, I would take it every time. But that will never happen. It’s a shame,not being able to experience things for the first time for the second time, but that’s what makes first times special. It’s the way that you only can experience it once that makes it so entertaining. It’s the way that it will never happen like that again that releases dopamine straight to your brain and gets you hooked.

After both of those times, you will never feel the same way about that thing again. Every time that you do it, even if it is shooting the buzzer beater shot in the same way, catching that bass in the same way, or defeating the final boss in the same way, it will never feel the same. Instead of pure joy it will just be a feeling of almost emptiness. A void that sucks the joy of accomplishing something right out of the accomplishment. That’s why people move on to new hobbies or sports or games. They can experience that first time again. They can get the impossible smile or joyous laughter again. They can feel that blood pumping through their body and the sweat drip down their back again. It really is a drug, first times. You can never reach the high so you turn to others until there’s nothing left. You will have done everything that you wanted to, there will be no more impossible smiles, or true laughter, or blood pumping or sweat dripping again. And that is the sad reality of it. But we still have things to do. We still have hobbies to find and sports to play and games to beat. So go, get your firsts. See how long you can hold on to it.

All of us are junkies,

Just some hide it better than others.