𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐬.
a collection of words to describe the strangeness of being human.
✧ agnosthesia: the state of not knowing how you really feel about something.
✧ alazia: the fear that you're no longer able to change.
✧ altschmerz: a sense of weariness with the same old problems that you've always had, the same boring issues and anxieties you've been gnawing on for decades.
✧ apolytus: the moment you realize you are changing as a person, finally outgrowing your old problems like a reptile shedding its skin.
✧ bareleveling: trying to improve yourself without anyone else knowing about it, afraid that they'll think it's silly or grandiose or unnecessary, or that they'll end up calling too much attention to your efforts.
✧ bye-over: the sheepish casual vibe between two people who've shared an emotional farewell but then unexpectedly have a little extra time together.
✧ candling: the habit of taking stock of your life on the occasion of your birthday.
✧ craxis: the unease of knowing how quickly your circumstances could change on you.
✧ daguerreologue: an imaginary conversation with an old photo of yourself, in which you might offer them a word of advice, or maybe just ask them if they thought you had done justice to the life they built for you.
✧ dead reckoning: finding yourself bothered by somebody's death more than you would have expected, even if they were only an abstract presence in your life.
✧ dolonia: a state of unease prompted by people who seem to like you too much, which makes you wonder if they must have you confused with someone else.
✧ endzoned: the hollow feeling of having gotten exactly what you thought you wanted, only to learn that it didn't make you happy.
✧ énouement: the bittersweetness of having arrived here in the future, finally learning the answers to how things turned out but being unable to tell your past self.
✧ etterath: the feeling of emptiness after a long and arduous process is finally complete.
✧ falesia: the disquieting awareness that someone's importance to you and your importance to them may not necessarily match.
✧ feresy: the fear that your partner is changing in ways you don't understand, even though they might be changes for the better.
✧ fool's guilt: a pulse of shame you feel even though you've done nothing wrong.
✧ harmonoia: an itchy sense of dread when life feels just a hint too peaceful, with an eerie stillness that makes you want to brace for the inevitable collapse, or burn it down yourself.
✧ heartspur: an unexpected surge of emotion in response to a seemingly innocuous trigger, which feels all the more intense because you can't quite pin it down.
✧ immerensis: the maddening inability to understand the reasons why someone loves you.
✧ inerrata: a kind of mistake you wouldn't take back even if you could.
✧ insoucism: the inability to decide how much sympathy your situation really deserves, knowing that so many people have it far worse and others far better.
✧ justing: the habit of telling yourself that just one tweak could solve all of your problems, which leaves you feeling perpetually on the cusp of a better life.
✧ kairosclerosis: the moment you look around and realize that you're currently happy, which prompts your intellect to identify it, pick it apart, and put it in context.
✧ keep: an important part of your personality that others seldom see, that remains a vital part of who you are even if nobody knows it's there.
✧ kuebiko: a state of exhaustion inspired by senseless tragedies and acts of violence, which force you to abruptly revise your expectations of what can happen in this world.
✧ lackout: the sudden awareness that you're finally over someone, noticing that the same voice that once triggered a cocktail of emotions now evokes nothing at all.
✧ leidenfreude: a sense of paradoxical relief when something bad happens to you.
✧ liberosis: the desire to care less about things.
✧ lyssamania: the irrational fear that someone you know is angry with you.
✧ mauerbauertraurigkeit: the inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends whose company you generally enjoy.
✧ mcfeely: to be inexplicably moved by predictable and well-worn sentiments, even if they're trite or obvious or being broadcast blindly to the masses.
✧ nachlophobia: the fear that your deepest connections with people are ultimately pretty shallow.
✧ nighthawk: a recurring thought that only seems to strike you late at night.
✧ opia: the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.
✧ ozurie: the feeling of being torn between the life you want and the life you have.
✧ pâro: the feeling that everything you do is always somehow wrong.
✧ povism: the frustration of being stuck inside your own head, unable to see your face or read your body language in context, only ever guessing how you might be coming across.
✧ proluctance: the paradoxical urge to avoid doing something you've been looking forward to, stretching out the bliss of anticipation as long as you can.
✧ punt kick: a quiet jolt of recognition that it's time to become a better version of yourself, sensing that all the strategies that brought you this far are no longer working.
✧ rasque: a moment you instantly wish you could take back, feeling a pulse of dread right after crossing the point of no return.
✧ rubatosis: the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.
✧ scabulous: being proud of a certain scar on your body, even if it hurts.
✧ slipfast: the longing to disappear completely, so you can take in the world without having to take part in it.
✧ soufrise: the maddening thrill of an ambiguous flirtation, which quivers in tension halfway between platonic and romantic.
✧ tiris: the bittersweet awareness that all things must end.
✧ the whipgraft delusion: the phenomenon in which you catch your reflection in the mirror and get the sense that you're peering into the eyes of a stranger.
✧ tichloch: the anxiety of never knowing how much time you have left.
✧ tornomov: the weird hollowness of trying to imagine the distant future.
✧ yu yi: the longing to feel things intensely again.