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A big one someone told me is everyone around you has a rich life. A favorite song, a book that stuck with them, friends, family, hopes and fears. That jerk who cut me off on the way to work wasn't some jerk put on Earth to cut me off, it's someone who has their own things going on in their life. Putting a rich life behind the strangers I cross paths with helps me feel better about life.
Formerly_Me · 3203 days ago · link ·
There's actually a term for that! It's called "sonder."
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user-inactivated · 3178 days ago · link ·
"Sonder" is an invented word, created specifically to address such a feeling. Its creator is the author of the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, though I don't know his name. He has a YouTube channel where he explains what those words mean or are meant to describe.
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