people remain unknown

sonder, realisations of the week + observations

This week i’ve spent just looking at people, people walking, people cycling, people driving, people sitting in cafes talking - with or without people. people lying on grass. smiling because the suns out. contagious smiles. someone said they were sad the sun disappeared the other day. and i said just because the suns not visible doesnt mean its not there. it still shows up everyday w/o the need or desire to be seen by everyone. shows up quietly even when people want to block out the sun. the sun that nourishes life.

Princess Mononoke comes to mind. the forest isnt just a setting, it’s alive. watching, responding, resisting. it doesn’t exist to be fully understood, or controlled. it just exists, with its own rhythm, its own balance.

and maybe people are like that too.

so getting onto the topic of sonder. sonder is the realisation every single person is leading as complex life as us. everyones life is interesting and important. im not like everyone. and not anyone is like me. but isn’t that the beauty, our differences. we can learn about one another. to stay curious. to be selfless, in a world that pushes you to be selfish. to say hi to an old couple, to strangers, to animals. to smile in a world that wants you to be broken. everyone is showing up as themselves, tired, happy, stressed, trying - all different. we cant expect ourselves to show up the same everyday. some days might be harder than others. some days we wont have anyone but ourselves. but doesnt that show us that there’s a God that listens to us through it all, who we can talk to anytime, who will listen to us, even when others get tired of us. tired of our monologue.

people remain unknown, not because you failed to understand them, but because no one is fully knowable from the outside. even the people closest to you have whole inner worlds you’ll never completely access. that’s not a loss—it’s part of what keeps relationships real instead of something you try to “solve.” we move through each other the way people move through the forest—catching glimpses, never the whole.

smiling at babies, innocent.

i was thinking this morning that everything is temporary, our desires, our feelings. one moment we might feel angry or annoyed, or frustrated. but another, we are completely different, showing up in this world in a completely different way.

we aren’t the same person we were a year ago. nor should we be expected to be. yet that person is still within us, settled within the ribs, settled in our hearts, in our distant memories, settled in old conversations with friends. settled in conversations with ourselves. or our notes app from a year ago. or videos that are saved in our galleries. oh how sometimes i feel like i needed a hug, just to say everything will be okay. but i show up now being kind to myself, doing this for me.

we have one life, we should show up experiencing, with presence, with learning about one another, with staying curious, not rushing to say the next thing but opening space for the other to speak.

reminder people just want to be heard. start hearing people but also hear yourself.

see you next week (will be more consistent with writing on here)