son·der
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own (The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)
When I’m sitting in the backseat on a drive down the highway, I like to observe the people in cars around me. Sometimes I make eye contact with the angry mom irritated at her husband for spilling the coffee, the melancholy teen with headphones on, or even the happy German shepherd peeking his head out the window. In these moments, I am overwhelmed with the feeling of “sonder.”
The idea of “sonder” is so obvious, yet shocking when an experience of it is put into words. We are so immersed into our own thoughts, emotions, and lives that we often feel alone and forget that there are 7 billion people in the world who are feeling the same exact way. There are 7 billion stories, some almost finished, some in the process, and some unwritten.
The world is an diverse place with so much to be discovered from each person walking upon it. Unique personalities and conventional eccentricities cross and clash, and interaction can give way to beautiful culture or vile inequality. Life is about discovering the communities around you, the cultures of the world, and really listening to someone’s story. All this inspiration stems from the simple revelation of “sonder.”
