36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood

Interview With Expert

You never really know what another person is going through. (Solipsists go as far as to say that you are the only conscious being in existence.)

Some might be able to articulate their experiences, but it can still be difficult to comprehend the depth of their words, even if you know their meaning.

So when one Reddit user asked everyone on the platform to share a feeling they believe is indescribable to someone who hasn't had it, people immediately started submitting their answers, highlighting the complexity of human interaction.

Continue scrolling to check out the entries, and don't miss the conversation we had with Barbara Jaffe, Ed.D. — you will find it in between the stories.

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The loss of a pet.

Hard to explain that I've grieved harder for a dog somehow than I ever have for a human.

Scrappy_Larue , Helena Lopes / pexels Report

Final score:

373points

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Depression, a feeling of true fear and emptiness at the same time. You don’t want to die, you don’t want to live. It’s weird

Furtip , Engin Akyurt / pexels Report

Final score:

359points

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To get a better understanding of how people can relate to each other better, we contacted Barbara Jaffe, who is an emeritus English professor and a current fellow in UCLA's Department of Education.

"Empathy is one of the most important qualities a person can possess," Jaffe, author of 'When will I be good enough?', told Bored Panda. "Empathy allows us to understand others on a deeper level. It is also not necessary to have had the same experience as another person in order to feel empathy."

"For example, seeing an unhoused (homeless) person can immediately make us feel sad about that person's situation. If we feel sorry for that person, it sets up an uneven relationship whereby we are looking at the other person, grateful for not being in their position and in a sense, feeling better than that person on some level. However, feeling empathy allows us to understand at a basic emotional level that this other person is feeling pain and perhaps suffering, and we can understand both of those emotions no matter our circumstances, for all of us have had pain and suffering. Therefore, empathy enables us to understand each other and connect in a way that allows us to share our feelings with others."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Period cramps. Half the population will never fully understand how most women carry on like nothing is wrong even though they are in serious physical pain.

Minimum-Inspector-38 , Sora Shimazaki / pexels Report

Final score:

328points

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Adhd - executive dysfunction

When you really want to do something but pathetically, literally, cannot.

Then suffer guilt from this.

Repeat_after_me__ , KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA / pexels Report

Final score:

267points

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The absolute indifference towards everything in depression.

wantstolearnhowto , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

242points

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However, this isn't always effortless for us. "A lack of effective communication can certainly limit our empathizing," Jaffe said. "When we aren't listening carefully to another (or tuning someone out), it is easy for us to also 'unplug' our emotions and not care very much about them. Listening allows us to hear what the person is experiencing and enables us to appreciate at least what that person is going through."

As she pointed out, the more self-absorbed we become and believe that what's happening to us is all that matters, the more we limit our ability to empathize with others. "When we realize that others are going through hard times and they might need someone to talk to, we can accept that we aren’t the only ones who have issues. This mutual understanding of each other’s hardships allows for empathy."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Sneezing out a huge clot on your period.

V_is4vulva , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels Report

Final score:

231points

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Misophonia

SO much more than just "not liking loud noises." There are some noises that are legitimately rage-inducing and make me want to commit violence to make it stop. Other noises make me feel like I'm suddenly going to vomit.

But the really **loud** noises are the worst, because they are *physically painful*. It's really hard to explain to someone what it's like to have a sound hurt your brain, but it's brutal.

UnicornVoodooDoll , David Garrison / pexels Report

Final score:

215points

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36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood General anesthesia. You’re not asleep-it’s nothing like that, you’re not dreaming, you’re nothing… and there is no nothing and you aren’t aware that there’s no nothing.

SeriesBusiness9098 , Anna Shvets / pexels Report

Final score:

210points

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Research suggests that women could be better at empathizing with others than men. For example, when The Pew Research Center asked Americans about their thoughts and feelings regarding human suffering in light of the pandemic and other recent tragedies, two-thirds of women (66%) said that in the past year, they have personally thought "a lot" or "some" about big questions such as the meaning of life, whether there is any purpose to suffering and why terrible things happen to people, compared with 55% of men who reported the same.

"There are those who are naturally born with empathy, an innate understanding and feeling for what others are experiencing," Jaffe added. "Some people are empathic souls, yet all of us can learn how to appreciate the emotions of others even if we have never had the same experiences. It is a process that begins internally when we can learn to accept ourselves, one day at a time."

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Extreme back pain where you can't move and even struggle to breathe.

randypriest , Karolina Grabowska / pexels Report

Final score:

208points

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#10

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hearing your baby giggle uncontrollably for the first time. Truly unreal. You do everything you can to get them to laugh like that again.

If you don’t want to have children that’s fine and I support your choice!

Accomplished_Eye_824 , William Fortunato / pexels Report

Final score:

207points

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#11

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood That actual physical pain because of a heartbreak.

topshot14 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

Final score:

199points

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For those who want to get better at empathizing with others, Barbara Jaffe recommends three things:

Be kind to yourself. "We must learn to be gentle and patient with ourselves. We must first learn to be empathic with ourselves, to give ourselves a break, to be understanding about our own lives before we can begin to have empathy for others," she said.

Learn to listen — really listen — to others when they are sharing their thoughts and feelings. According to Jaffe, it isn't easy to listen, and our ‘me-centric’ culture isn't helping us develop the habit. But, if we actively try to make eye contact and hear what the other person is sharing, we will get closer to their true emotions.

Share our thoughts with those we trust. "Even if we are a little hesitant to do so, we will experience empathy not only for others but for ourselves. Take a ‘safe risk’ with someone who will listen to us and understand."

#12

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The moment your stomach drops after finding out you’ve been cheated on.

NoParty1969 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

Final score:

197points

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#13

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood I'm gonna get hella esoteric here, but when I retired from programming to be a full-time singer and musician in 2018, I decided if I really wanted to be good at my job, I should start training to sing opera.

It turns out that building a professional operatic sound is bizarre and involves a lot of very fine motor control and the relaxing/engaging of muscles I didn't even know I had. When everything lines up, though, it's insane.

I've just recently started to make some good, professional quality sounds, and the sensation is like nothing in this world. A rumbling in the chest on low notes, a tingling in the "mask" on high notes, and when things are working *really* well, the bizarre sensation like the voice isn't even coming from you. Your body is a perfectly coordinated bellows and the sound just enters the world and carries, like a portal to another dimension of pure sound opened up a couple of inches in front of your face. This is the sound that allows normal people to project unamplified to a house of 2000 people and still be heard over an orchestra.

So yeah, I'm going to say "good operatic singing."

MarvinLazer , Thirdman / pexels Report

Final score:

196points

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#14

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Losing a child. I'm not a parent but I can see for myself how painful it is to lose a child. When my childhood friend died when she was 17, that was the only time I've ever seen a man cry so hard.

rxssri , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

Final score:

195points

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#15

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood The loss of a parent. It's like you're part of a really s****y club that you have to be in to fully understand.

Hellisdigital- , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

Final score:

179points

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#16

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Panic attack

Sleep paralysis

Kvothetheraven603 , MART PRODUCTION / pexels Report

Final score:

179points

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#17

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Fear for your child.

doomblackdeath , Sarah Chai / pexels Report

Final score:

170points

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#18

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Latching on that monster booger that's been haunting your nasal cavity for the past 24 hours and slowly getting it out, then being able to breathe through that nostril.

homme_chauve_souris , Polina Tankilevitch / pexels Report

Final score:

165points

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#19

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Trying to revive a dying person while their wife stands next to you screaming for them. And you’re covered in his vomit and he’s turning blue and you’re 16 and panicking and there’s a dozen people watching you desperately attempt CPR and you don’t even know what happened to him you just know nobody else can help.

mir_ols , Raven Domingo / pexels Report

Final score:

162points

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#20

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Brain zaps for some when coming off of certain anti-depressants. It can be completely disorienting and borderline torturous.

TriplePattyMelt , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

139points

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#21

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hate. Like, *real* hate.

I've just recently felt real hate for the first time. Not spur-of-the-moment anger or rage, but persistent hate. I want terrible things to happen to this person. I hope they lose their job. I hope they end up broke and can't move out of their POS dad's house. I hope their friends shun them. I hope they fail at everything they want to succeed in. I hope they get mugged. I hope their new car gets totalled. I hope they suffer. I hope they feel nothing but despair. They were one of my best friends for over a decade, and now, if they died tomorrow, I wouldn't go to their funeral.

This is the most nasty, disgusting thing I've ever felt. It's like a fire in my chest that turns everything it touches black. I'm ashamed to feel the way I do. I *hate* hate. I hate that I feel this way about another person. But I do

DoodleStrude , cottonbro studio / pexels Report

Final score:

136points

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#22

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood That adreneline from walking onto a stage. Then that moment where you overcome whatever hardship that was presented on that stage and the croud roars and cheers you on. That is a high that I chase non stop. And it never gets old.

MouseKingMan , Monica Silvestre / pexels Report

Final score:

125points

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#23

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Pure and unconditional love. That way it sitting on your heart, the warm feeling it spreads across your chest. The infinite happiness when you are with them. The unspoken words between each other that both fully understand. And knowing that, that person is the first and last face you see.

On the other hand, the sudden loss of one of the most important people in your life. That empty void that was once positive emotions, now dark negative emotions or no emotions at all. The coldness you feel towards life and towards the world. Like a piece of your own soul was also lost that day, a piece that will never come back.

ThundernLightning308 , Uriel Mont / pexels Report

Final score:

125points

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#24

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Loneliness. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

slav_squat_98 , MART PRODUCTION / pexels Report

Final score:

119points

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#25

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Completely blocking out events in your life and suddenly remembering them.

fishinglife777 , Lisa Fotios / pexels Report

Final score:

113points

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#26

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Being pregnant.

lm5169 , Amina Filkins / pexels Report

Final score:

111points

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#27

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Borderline Personality Disorder. It feels... awful. You cannot trust your brain (I also have bipolarity), you overshare, overthink, over attach to ANYONE. Fighting those feelings is draining. You are a prisoner of your own brain.

Total_Mushroom2865 , Alex Green / pexels Report

Final score:

107points

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#28

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Standing on stage and singing lyrics you wrote into a microphone while a crowd sings them back at you.

Incredible. It’s a high I’ve never replicated in the years since I stopped making music as a serious endeavor.

RebelliousRoomba , Artem Podrez / pexels Report

Final score:

92points

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#29

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Hypoglycemia. I am type one diabetic and although i have very tight control thanks to low carb, occasionally low glucose events can still happen. Very scary feeling, shaky with a sense of horrific doom. Hard to explain to my husband and its weird to me that he will never know what i mean when i tell him about it. Only happens a few times a year thankfully!

CurvePuzzleheaded361 , Pavel Danilyuk / pexels Report

Final score:

85points

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#30

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Dissociation

Waffle_God49 , Kindel Media / pexels Report

Final score:

83points

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#31

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Coma. I had the privilege of falling into a coma. Can't describe it to anyone, and everyone who's heard of it asked how it felt

Wide-Review-2417 , RDNE Stock project / pexels Report

Final score:

81points

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#32

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood When a hair gets caught behind your prosthetic eye and you pull it out and feel it sliiiiiiiiiiide through your remaining eye bits.

Jabez77 , J E Theriot / flickr Report

Final score:

81points

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#33

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Going through a psychosis

zoooosh , Andre Moura / pexels Report

Final score:

62points

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#34

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Skydiving. 1 minute of freefall from 15000ft... total system overload!!

God_Of_Puddings , Tom Fisk / pexels Report

Final score:

61points

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#35

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Getting tased. Words don't really capture what happens. It isn't exactly pain, but it's not good either.

AdWonderful5920 , jasonesbain / wikipedia Report

Final score:

56points

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#36

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood Phantom pain of your body trying to pull up a testicle that have been removed and how it feels like it was sucking on air and then it freaking out and making it ache where it’s no longer there.

Bertensgrad , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels Report

Final score:

47points

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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I'm a visual editor here at Bored Panda and I enjoy a good laugh. My work ranges from serious topics related to toxic work environments and relationship difficulties to humorous articles about online shopping fails and introvert memes. When I'm not at my work desk, checking if every single pixel is in the right place, I usually spend my free time playing board games, taking pictures, and watching documentaries

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What do you think ?

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Papa 7 months ago

Having a migraine is one that wasn't mentioned above. The kind of pain that when you're walking feels like you're being hit on the head with a hammer every time your foot hits the ground, or feels like the inside of your skull has spikes on it that are poking into your brain, or make a grown man go to the emergency room crying like a baby.

39points

Thomas Hunt, Jr. 7 months ago (edited)

Having chronic and deabilitating migraines is really bad. Longest migraine I've had lasted 5 months straight. Lost over 30 pounds. Vertigo, extreme nausea, hallucinating, passing out. You never get used to these things with a migraine. I've been dealing with migraines like this the last 34 years.

19points

36 Sensations That Must Be Experienced To Be Fully Understood

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