So much of my life has been spent intentionally finding my place as a human wallflower, as I try to take it all in. A new face of a stranger I likely will never see again, perhaps at a coffee shop or a bus stop or at a park bench. I wonder what their story is. I imagine what their story is. And I write.
Muse that I never run out of.
It was a while before I realized there was a word for this particular inspiration that fuels not only the stories I love to tell, but also the reflections I have about my own life.
sonder (noun, english) - the realization that each passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness
I find my philosophy of life increasingly encapsulating the essence of this word and my reflections that stem from it. When I really pause and take a moment to look around me, I see stories, shared experiences, and silver linings.
It’s really happening, we’re all… here on this planet in this moment experiencing life together, but also alone. And there isn’t a realization that I find more brilliantly wonderful than this.
Welcome to Sweet Nothings.
My name is Sowgandhi Rayapudi, but you can call me Sow.
Friends call me an incurable romantic of it all, the experience of life. There is so much to take away from just sitting down and watching the lives of the people around us, and also, more importantly, our own.
I hope to pull out the unseen pages of my journal, battered post-it notes with energized 2 AM thoughts, and ruminations scribbled against underlined prose, here.
The things I write about matter to me. And if they do, they need a home beyond my forgotten notebooks. And perhaps, they’ll be welcomed by visitors like you. And perhaps, my words will leave you with something - or, maybe they’ll be challenged, or even transformed after hearing what you have to say.
And together, my thoughts and your thoughts may become all we need to make sense of the madness and the beauty around us.
Come stay a while. I promise it’ll be a fun time.
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