what can I say ''when someone shares a good experience/feeling''?

Question

Here's the situation:

my friend got accepted in a job interview and described his feelings and how happy he was.

I wanted to say that I've had the same experience/feeling as he does when I got my first job.I found ''I've been there'' and ''tell me about it'' but I think these expressions have too much of a negative connotation to use here

what can I use?

This is our conversation

A) Hey, I got a job recently and I'm really happy about it.

B) I know how you feel,.....

I want a phrase for this gap like ''I've been there'' but with a positive connotation.

In addition, It can be any positive situations like ''falling in love'', getting a job'', ''passing a hard exam'' that both sides already experienced.

Answer 1

The main response in this situation would be something like "I'm so happy for you!", but this does not convey that you've also experienced the same thing as the other person.

One suggestion is you could say something like "It feels good, doesn't it?", which would imply that you've also experienced something similar.

Answer 2

So, if I understand your question correctly, the situation you describe has three parts:

1. The person you are talking with is experiencing some kind of joyful situation
2. You have had a similar experience in your past
3. You want to say that, because of your similar experience, you know how your friend feels

Given those three things, I'd probably use some sort of exclamation to express my happiness, and then use the phrase "I remember..." to relate my past experience to my friend's current situation. For example, I might say something like:

That's great! I remember when I got my first job.
Congratulations! I remember how I felt when I passed that exam.
That's wonderful! I remember the joy I felt when I first fell in love with Marie.

Answer 3

"I've been there." and "Tell me about it." are most often used when commiserating, so you probably wouldn't want to use it in the positive situations you've mentioned.

When a situation is not positive, we welcome empathy from other people who have been through the same thing. For accomplishments like landing a new job though, we would rather have someone recognize our accomplishment than say "I did the same thing before you did and I was happy too." That might be my own cultural bias though.

So, I would recommend choosing a response that doesn't mention that you shared the same experience because it distracts a little bit from your friend's accomplishment.

I know this isn't exactly an answer to your question because it doesn't include "I have experienced this also", but I would say something similar to what neotryte mentioned in their answer:

"That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"