In recent times, memes have become one of the best ways to convey messages, feelings and ideas. For instance, the Be Like Bill (insert any appropriate name in place of Bill) meme is a passive aggressive way to make a comment on the lives and life choices of others: Bill doesn’t play candy crush. Bill is smart. Bill has a life. Be like Bill. The memes about that feeling when are similarly expressive – of feelings, fears, nostalgia and more.
We all experienced this in school about an overbearing teacher or later at work about an obnoxious boss.
You wake up in the morning and think of all the things you need to do… and then remember all the things you can do instead because the weekend is just around the corner!
In the morning after a full night’s sleep, after a long car ride, even after listening to a waterfall for a long time… we’ve all experienced the acute discomfort of a full bladder and the exquisite joy of subsequent release!
That feeling of apprehension: the feeling of being watched; of not knowing what you did wrong… but the distinct feeling of trouble to come!
Well not that exact joy but there are so many: The perfect cup of coffee. The heavenly smell of a favourite flower. The feeling of the first drops of rain after a parched summer. The hug of a beloved child… life is full of these little joys.
Schadenfreude is the “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.” If that person is the ex who broke your heart… ah!
It may be an in-person argument with a friend with different political leanings. Or it could be a Facebook pow-pow about a book or movie. That feeling after having silenced the opponent with an irrefutable, quelling argument… quite priceless!
A couple of people seem to be gossiping – about whom? They just glanced your way and now they are laughing – why?
That feeling of running out of time can be awful: an exam you didn’t study for, a project you still haven’t completed with the deadline being tomorrow.
We imagine ourselves as having all sorts of (sometimes) non-existent flaws and imperfections and then we realise that no one is perfect!
We all make mistakes. That regret gnaws away at us: if only we’d done that then, or not done that.
Sometimes we feel out of our depth; inadequate or just stupid. Then we remember this guy is the most powerful man in the world. And then suddenly we don’t have that feeling any more.
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