“True Fear And Emptiness”: 36 Feelings That Are Indescribable To Someone Who Has Never Felt Them


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.


#1

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

Image credits: Furtip


#2

Panic attack



Sleep paralysis

Image credits: Kvothetheraven603


#3

The moment your stomach drops after finding out you’ve been cheated on.

Image credits: NoParty1969


#4

Extreme back pain where you can't move and even struggle to breathe.

Image credits: randypriest


#5

The loss of a pet.



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

Image credits: Scrappy_Larue


#6

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.

Image credits: SeriesBusiness9098


#7

Brain zaps for some when coming off of certain anti-depressants. It can be completely disorienting and borderline torturous.

Image credits: TriplePattyMelt


#8

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.

Image credits: Hellisdigital-


#9

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.

Image credits: Minimum-Inspector-38


#10

The absolute indifference towards everything in depression.

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#11

Adhd - executive dysfunction



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



Then suffer guilt from this.

Image credits: Repeat_after_me__


#12

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

Image credits: Wide-Review-2417


#13

That actual physical pain because of a heartbreak.

Image credits: topshot14


#14

Loneliness. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

Image credits: slav_squat_98


#15

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."

Image credits: MarvinLazer


#16

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.

Image credits: mir_ols


#17

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.

Image credits: UnicornVoodooDoll


#18

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

Image credits: DoodleStrude


#19

When a hair gets caught behind your prosthetic eye and you pull it out and feel it sliiiiiiiiiiide through your remaining eye bits.

Image credits: Jabez77


#20

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! 

Image credits: Accomplished_Eye_824


#21

Going through a psychosis

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#22

Completely blocking out events in your life and suddenly remembering them.

Image credits: fishinglife777


#23

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!

Image credits: CurvePuzzleheaded361


#24

Fear for your child.

Image credits: doomblackdeath


#25

Sneezing out a huge clot on your period.

Image credits: V_is4vulva


#26

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.

Image credits: homme_chauve_souris


#27

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.

Image credits: rxssri


#28

Dissociation

Image credits: Waffle_God49


#29

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.

Image credits: MouseKingMan


#30

Getting tased. Words don't really capture what happens. It isn't exactly pain, but it's not good either.

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#31

Being pregnant.

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#32

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. 

Image credits: Bertensgrad


#33

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.

Image credits: Total_Mushroom2865


#34

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.

Image credits: ThundernLightning308


#35

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.

Image credits: RebelliousRoomba


#36

Skydiving. 1 minute of freefall from 15000ft... total system overload!!

Image credits: God_Of_Puddings