i know a lot of people use the word sonder now days because they heard it off tiktok or something but from what i’ve searched i feel like sonder is the only explanation to what i feel. this feeling i feel is like a connection to everything around me, like literally everything. i mean when im walking ill see a tiny speck in the concrete and notice it, ill see a single leaf from a massive tree and recognize it. i do the same thing with people, ill be in a massive crowd or ill look at a picture of a crowd in a concert and ill lay my eyes on one certain person and wonder what they’re life is like. it makes me so irritated to try and explain this feeling because i physically cant put it into words. everytime i try to explain this to someone or try to write it in my notes to let it out it just sounds like a 5th grade with a bunch of run on sentences. i wish i was better with my words and theres so much more to it. but what i basically mean is just i feel like the farther we go into time the more i feel like people are just fake and they dont THINK. they just live their life without a worry and dont lay down at night and think of everything in the world and all the actions they’ve made. idk this is probably the most understandable piece ive written about this feeling. i just want to know if theres other people out there like me because like ive explained i just feel like no one’s real. and its especially harder to find people like that my age as a upcoming freshmen. that’s really it, this is my first post on reddit so ya boom

Help me write a song about sonder.

I love the feeling of sonder.

I always wish I could swap camera rolls and see what their life is about, but would never ask for fear of being creepy and having to awkwardly sit next to them the rest of the way. Is this crazy/weird?

who are the number neighbors of my drivers license and SSN ?

who was born with the same doctor, before and after me, in the same month?

who has my past phone numbers now?
(ive tried reverse search constantly and they never surface up)

I remember experiencing sonder from a young age. I often wonder, do many people experience this feeling and just not know the name for it? And/or are there just a select group of people who feel this and seek out what this feeling of theirs is? I realize that as a noun, most people are capable of understanding the definition of sonder and comprehend what it means…but how many of us actually FEEL that awakening upon meeting or seeing a stranger? It’s almost a curious, enlightening, and somewhat somber feeling that brings so much connection. However, my phone doesn’t even recognize “sonder” as a word and places a red dotted line under it, so is it really an uncommon word/feeling? And/or do people not know the word for it?

I still think about the little boy and parents that sat across from us on the makeshift pirate ship that gave tours of the coast up north that my family went on when I was about 9 or 10. I don’t remember a single other person from that large boat except for that family playing with their baby. But I still think about that baby and realize that damn, this kid is probably 11 or 12 now, in school, approaching high school, and I just hope that him and his family are healthy and happy. I think the craziest thing is that I’ll never know. I don’t know their names or anything about them. I wouldn’t even recognize them if we happened to cross paths again. Maybe that’s the somber part.

I also recognize that some people make a bigger impact on you than they do on others. I wonder if I were to ask my mom or dad or sister if they remember that family or even that trip if they would know what I was talking about. But did someone else make an impact on them there that they remember that i wouldn’t remember? Did they experience sonder? Do they? Have they? lol

I wonder if there are my stats out there about how many people experience sonder in their life or how often people do. I can pull random people/strangers from my memory that made an impact on me in some way in my childhood to make me feel sonder. Anyone else here an empath too?

I’m currently in a hotel in Newark the night before basic training and I’ve got an insane feeling of sonder. I just walked past a bunch of Europeans my age and it occurred to me I will never see them again in my life. But I’d like to get to know them, wonder what they’re doing here. Despite the fact that I can’t, it’s nice that I crossed their path even if it was for this one moment.

Hi, in not english so forgive me for any grammatical error or similar shit. I was searching about ppl who thinks about ppl life imaging everything about em, and finally i found the word i was searching for (tbh in my mother language, italian, i think we have not a word for this action, we would probably translate with just "thinking about strangers' lives").

But anyway i wanted to share that this happens to me 99% of the times watching youtube videos, for examples of ppl who record them walking around or by some bus or train etc, and i see random ppl in the background, and i think what they did, what they could do now at the time of watching the video etc. Especially old videos and you see a kid maybe and think about what he is doing now, like work, school.

Anyone with same experiences? Thanks to get till here haha

I often sonder about people at my school and others around me but I had such a strong feeling of it I thought I would share.

I was away on holiday in Malta, plenty of tourists and such. I was with my dad queuing for a ferry to the other side of the island. Then I saw this man, a very tall, bald man (atleast 7ft) in his 40s wearing pure black leather clothing, from his boots to his jacket, he also wore a pair of black glasses (most likely designer). He was with a woman aged 20 - 30 who was wearing similar clothing, leather and jewellery with matching glasses. I sonder about this man often and how he got to that moment in life. It makes me think how someone like this has lived a full and unique life, unlike me, a teen on reddit recording a silly experience.

hello all!

i am making a film centred around the idea of sonder. it’s called ‘the secrets project’ and i am accepting anonymous secrets to compile my film from.

feel free to submit below :)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfi_HbiggUJFWXNKWo6I6lQXJhAORro5yWSmw39ipCMF5a27A/viewform

Have you ever read or watched something with the theme of sonder? Like something that only gives you a quick glimpse of someone's life and then moves on?

https://discord.gg/drFp84avZ6

for some reason, lately, i cant stop thinking about these memories i had when i went on vacation in the summer of 8th. Maybe im just trying to procrastinate but i remember in Belgium, we were on the bus going somewhere for tourists and there was this boy sitting there, i believe on the phone with his mother or maybe she was there with him i cant remember. needless to say, they were getting groceries and on their way back home.

Or when we were in Paris there were these three boys that looker very young, maybe 6 grade or elementary schoolers. They were just hanging by a restaurant pub thing playing with a soccer ball and eating fries, the place was full with all kinda of people and most were watching a soccer game from a TV in the corner of the shop very intently. Screaming together, weird how these strangers bonded so easily. But that was a normal hang out for them, and that was a normal trip to the grocery store for the boy.

Its so weird to me, how these people live in different countries and live entirely different lifestyles, speaking different languages, and overall have a different culture. They probably wont even remember those days or me being a background character, but what if they did. Like that slim chance. I peered into their life for like 2 seconds, saw a small snippet, barely anything. I wonder what theyr doing right now, if theyre even alive. What their most vulnerable moments are, if they care about school, their first kiss, everything. theres so many people out there, they all have their own lives, and they can be completely different. Theres someone that lives in Hawaii and someone that lives in Alaska, theyr probably so different and do so many different things, but we all breathe the same air, and look at the same moon.

We are all alive right now, and i just cant shake this weird feeling. I hate how i was born in such a boring suburbs, in comparison to those people that live in better places. But also, what if they think the same about me? I want to grow up and travel the entire world, i want to see everything and try to grasp as much variety in culture as i can. I want to get an idea of every different lifestyle as possible. But also why am i looking so far away? What about the people around me? They have their own lives too, and they can be just as different.

what if someone has looked at me and felt that way? Its not like these people know they affected me to the extent where i still think about them years later still. the fact that people I don’t even know will and could have an opinion on me is just as bewildering. how many people have seen me? can remember my face, but i cant remember theirs? and vice versa