welcome to sonder

n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

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Sonder, my favorite word, is one that hasn't left my mind since the moment I learned of it. Unlike any other words I'd heard of, I felt as ease when I heard it- it had finally explained something that I had struggled to describe, but always felt so strongly. A feeling that pops up with every country I travel to, every person I take a photo of, and every laugh I hear on the side of the road. It makes me feel alive, excited, and connected with the people around me. It is a concept I will continue to remember with every step I take towards becoming a better person, ally, and advocate- that everyone's identity, experiences, and lives are as unique and intricate as our own.