Why Do Feelings Come in Different Sizes?

This is the text version of the interactive 3D documentary. 한국어

Why Do Feelings Come in Different Sizes?

The same thing happens, yet one person cries hard and another laughs it off. Why do feelings differ in size, and what helps us handle them? 15 short steps, each with a 3D wave of feeling.

Open the 3D documentary

Chapter 1 · Same event, different waves

1. Same event, five people

   How five people feel when a friend forgets the plan

2. Four numbers of a wave

   Threshold · peak · how fast it rises · how long it lasts

3. Each feeling has its own length

   Sadness stays long, embarrassment passes fast

Chapter 2 · Why the difference?

1. Born different

   Even four-month-old babies react differently

2. What “40% genetic” means

   Not 40% of your feeling, but 40% of the differences between people

3. The alarm and the brake

   As important as height: how fast you come back

4. After a sleepless night

   Without sleep, the alarm rings louder

5. Replaying it

   Each replay lifts the wave again

6. How we read it

   How you take the same event

7. Orchids and dandelions

   People who feel more also feel joy more

Chapter 3 · Riding the wave

1. Holding it in vs seeing it differently

   Pushing it down leaves the wave inside; seeing it differently shrinks it

2. Naming it

   Splitting “I’m annoyed” into parts lowers it a little

3. Letting off steam?

   Does hitting a punching bag calm anger?

4. Accepting it

   If you don’t fight the feeling, it passes in its own time

5. Everyone’s waves

   We all feel differently

The waves are an illustrative model of what emotion research finds, not measurements of real people. The people in the story are made up. Numbers from research are shown with their sources. If you are struggling, please talk to someone you trust or a local helpline.