“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.” —The Hobbit

In this life, we are lucky to find friends who understand, to discover our soulmates — romantic or otherwise. These are the kinds of souls who put you at ease while testing your limits, frustrate you into following your dreams, and love you despite your need to talk through previews at the movie theater. And they do so without fail.

These are your people.

They might not have been easy to find. You might’ve let some people go or felt the loss of others so you could find the people who make your world better. Finding them may be difficult, but keeping them in your life should not be if they are in fact yours. That is the thing about them. You don’t need to make them stay. They’ll do it all on their own.

Through this staying, they will take you to new places and new ideas. They will pick you up on your birthday and drive you to a town named after a character you love from a musical based on history. They will take you antiquing because they know you love old teacups and the past. They will buy you books, both new and used, because they understand you love the smell of both. And they will drive you through back roads in the country to a magical fountain because they know you love the idea of magic. And all of these will feel like real adventures.

Even a trip to the grocery store will feel adventurous if done with the right people.

There might be grand adventures, too. Places unseen, music to be heard, etc. Together you will sway with strange people at a concert from a band you like, or maybe even love, and it won’t matter that the other people bump you now and again because your people will surround you, too. They will mouth the words to your favorite song, whisper them in your ear because they know you feel like the words belong to you and only you. And when it’s time to leave the venue, they will make sure you don’t get lost.

Even during this crazy adventure we call life, they will make sure you don’t get lost along the way.

If, perhaps, you haven’t found your people, if the difficulty of the task weighs heavy on your soul, I hope you’ll keep looking despite the tribulations you might be facing. I hope you’ll find people who love your madness or sincerity. Collect a clan of curious souls who never tire of long-winded rants about Disney’s Frozen or ideas you might have or talk of things which have no purpose.

Search for people who make you better.

When you discover people who challenge you to let down your walls for them, who inspire you with their love and appreciation for life and each other — the amazing people who appear by chance or fate — I hope you will keep them always.