My total solar eclipse experience and why you should experience one too

I was one of millions of people able to see a total solar eclipse today. It’s something you hear about and see pictures of, but maybe never consider experiencing for yourself. Well, today it happened.
As the partial eclipse continued to develop, it was undoubtedly neat. Looking through my eclipse glasses, I could see the crescent of the sun as if it was the moon. Looking at the light through a pinhole also showed this crescent moon shape. 20 minutes before totality, weird things started to happen. First, the temperature noticeably cooled. 15 minutes before, the world started to look different. It’s very hard to describe but it was like an Instagram filter in-real-life. Everything had a slightly orange tint and looked more crisp. It was the most bizarre effect outside of totality itself. 10 minutes before, things became oddly silent outside of the chatter of people around me. Birds fell silent and all the other ambient sounds of nature we naturally tune out were noticeably absent. 5 minutes before, the world was darkening and the visual effect I described was heightened and cicadas started to chirp as if it was dusk. 30 seconds before, I saw “shadow bands” which are hard to describe but looked like the light you see at the bottom of a clear pool, but moving in straight-line “waves” and far far more subtle.
Then I put my glasses back on and watched the sliver of sun disappear. I took my glasses off and was awestruck at the beauty and abnormality. There was a collective gasp and cheers of the ~50 people around me. I will never ever forget that collective gasp as 50 people took off their glasses in unison. The next 2 minutes and 37 seconds are hard to describe. I looked around and saw sunset in every direction. I looked up and saw the blackest circle I’ve ever seen with bands of light surrounding it. The “night sky” was an odd purple-black I’ve never seen. I felt a connection with the people I was with that I’ve never felt, including the total strangers that were present. Here we were together, experiencing the most beautiful natural phenomena possible that few will have the chance to experience.
And then it was over. The sliver of sun slowly started to reappear. The steps I described above seemed to reverse, notably, I saw shadow bands again for a few seconds and the cicadas all at once were silenced. The world over the next 10 minutes started to look normal again and the temperature rose back up into the 90s.
I’ve never felt so in touch with nature and the human experience. There’s a huge variety of science and nature at play all in one beautiful moment. You experience astronomy, biology, optics, mechanics, physics, human psychology etc. at play in unison. But also, what did other people experience? How did other people in the US feel on August 21, 2017 experiencing this same event? How did astronomically-literate ancient humans such as the Mayans and Babylonians experience it? What about pre-history peoples who had no idea what the hell was happening?
There are two natural phenomena I’ve experienced that I can say with confidence cannot be recreated with pictures or videos. And those are the Grand Canyon and a total solar eclipse. And to be honest, the total solar eclipse completely eclipses (sorry… I’m very funny) my experience at the Grand Canyon.
I’ve read many other peoples’ accounts of experiencing a total eclipses so far, and two stick out. One said something like “on a scale of 1 to 10 on how interesting something is, a partial eclipse is a 5, an annular eclipse is a 9, and a total eclipse is one million”. The other said “the English language doesn’t have the superlatives to properly describe a total solar eclipse”. I can say with confidence that both of these statements are true. If you have the means and capability to experience a total solar eclipse, please PLEASE do so. It may not change your life, but it absolutely WILL stick with you for the rest of your life.