23 Emotions People Feel, But Can’t Explain

1.

Sonder: The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own

2.

Opia: The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable

3.

Monachopsis: The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place

4.

Énouement: The bittersweetness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self

5.

Vellichor: The strange wistfulness of used bookshops

6.

Rubatosis: The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat

7.

Kenopsia: The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet

8.

Mauerbauertraurigkeit: The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like

9.

Jouska: A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head

10.

Chrysalism: the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm

11.

Vemödalen: The frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist

12.

Anecdoche: A conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening

13.

Ellipsism: A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out

14.

Kuebiko: A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence

15.

Lachesism: The desire to be struck by disaster

16.

Exulansis: The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it

17.

Adronitis: Frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone

18.

Rückkehrunruhe: The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness

19.

Nodus Tollens: The realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore

20.

Onism: The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time

21.

Liberosis: The desire to care less about things

22.

Altschmerz: Weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had – the same boring flaws and anxieties that you’ve been gnawing on for years

23.

Occhiolism: The awareness of the smallness of your perspective