Sonder.

facepalm. can't find the original source of this image. if you know who it belongs to, please let me know!

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.*

This concept is one of my very favorite ideas to ponder about (ponder sonder, ha! Giggles!) and I didn't even know there was a name for it until I stumbled across it on Tumblr today.

It always hits me really hard when I'm at an airport/on an airplane or on a busy street in a big city. Everybody walking by is the star in their own personal movie, the main character in their own book and I am just a speck to them as they are to me. There are 7 billion people in the world and we know on average - how many? 700? 2000? And out of these, I probably am only really acquainted with or have really talked to perhaps about 100. Maybe 200. And from what I know, each of these people have incredible stories to share, fascinating bits of advice, even just little out-there moments that are just so interesting. What would it be like if everybody on the planet came along with a tiny Bio button and you could just click it and know all about them? Totally creepy. But also kind of cool! OK fine, I'd settle for just everybody in the world having a blog that I could read.

What would it be like to know more stories? Real stories. Anything. Your history. Your present. Your wishes, your dreams. How did you meet your significant other? Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? What's your life motto? What's the greatest thing you've ever done?

I would love to get to know your story! Anything at all! E-mail me at perpetuallycaroline [at] gmail [dot] com and I would love to maybe start a feature out of this or even just get to know you a little better!

*Merriam-Webster and Google say that this isn't a real word, but I really, really love it so I'll just keep thinking that it is! So, also, if you know who the original author of this definition/quote is, please let me know so I can credit them!