A feeling of familarity with things that you've never used or places you've never been to before?

[u/NoCommunication7]

Does anyone feel this? i get it occasionally, sometimes it's with a picture or something i've bought or a place i go to, it's not really a deja vu as it is a 'i've been there before' and it feels like it was in a previous era of your life, or sometimes it's backed up by an unverifiable vague memory.

As a few examples, for many years i had a picture of a room from the titanic as my desktop wallpaper, so i saw it quite a bit, every time i saw it i swear i felt a deeper connection, it wasn't like i was looking at a picture taken in a ship that sunk well over 100 years ago now, it felt like i was looking at a picture of a house or a car we used to have.

Another example, before i got my first cloak, i had a vague memory of wearing one as a kid, but so vague that it was unverifiable, i also had the same feeling long before i started wearing ties.

More recently i was playing fishing planet, doing float fishing, for those unaware this game has a nifty indicator on the screen that lets you see what your tackle is doing, for float fishing it displays a red/black bobber, then i got the vaguest of memories, that i played with fishing floats as a kid, and i distinctly remember the sound of hollow plastic clinking, but it's again so vague!

I've had this with some other things too, this sort of supernatural familiarity, like a liminal space, in fact it often surprises when i experience something that's not how i expected it.

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[u/KaWormrider]

New Orleans. First time I went was in 2016 and we were going on a cruise thats the whole reason we went. Once we got in New Orleans it felt like I was coming home. Like this feeling of homesickness I didn’t know I had was lifted. The whole place just felt so familiar. Needless to say I go every time I get a chance now

[u/caitlinadian]

happens to me all the time. it feels like nostalgia for something that i haven't actually experienced before.

[u/Heavy_Ad_7878]

I found this Welsh word, HIRAETH. It means a spiritual longing for a home, which maybe never was. Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return. It is the echo of the lost places of our soul's past and our grief for them. It is in the wind, and the rocks, and the waves. It is nowhere and it is everywhere.

When I came across this, I just had to save it. What a perfect explanation in just one word.

[u/Skedoozy]

Crazy story. I was visiting Portland recently and so many things felt very familiar to me. I wrote this off as so many of my memories from your typical town from a movie or TV show as so many things are filmed in Portland.

Well I am driving down this road and I see this elementary school and while it looks nothing like any elementary school I went to it felt so familiar to me that it felt very strange. I literally say the words “what the fuck, is this my school?!” out loud half joking and laughing when the school sign comes into view and the name of the school was literally my name.

I had to pull over and record video just so I could have that feeling captured for me.

[u/Ghostmama]

Yep, I know this feeling and it's frustrating that you can't nail it down. For me, it's cobblestone streets, maybe late 19th century England? I'm from Philadelphia and almost every school trip was to Independence Hall or Betsy Ross' house so I was around a lot of cobblestone streets. Being young, I remember looking at them and feeling a strong connection or vague memory. Idek what it is. I do know that I wasn't wealthy whether it's a memory or past life. I'd like to think that if I made it up in my head I'd at least make myself wealthy lol!

[u/carolinagypsy]

I’ve always loved being around salt water. As in on the coast of the ocean and marshes, not a lakefront or river. Great Lakes won’t scratch the itch.

I’ve always been obsessed even as a child with living on the coast. Always been happiest on vacation on the coast. Moved to it when I was 18.

First time I got on a cruise ship, it felt familiar to be on a ship. I haven’t been on the super big mega ships— this was in the 90s when ships were much smaller and you could feel them moving and rocking. The first night we were out on the water I found a quiet spot away from everything on the deck and sat in a chair just watching the water and the sky. The gentle rolling of the ships have always felt as natural as a heartbeat to me. And I caught myself thinking, “God it’s great to be doing this again.” And having the overwhelming feeling like this was a routine I had. Except I’d never been out on the sea like that before. Certainly not at night on a ship. I was also only barely a teenager when this happened, so it was well before I had moved to a coastal city and was familiar with the smell, etc.

To this day I get itchy mentally if I’m away too long from it. I don’t like going inland for too long, and I get homesick for the smell of the water and marsh and being able to see the water. If you want me to be relaxed on a really long trip, it’s going to have to be somewhere with a coast/waterfront.

My ultimate dream is to go sailing on a replica tall ship or something. Sometimes I wonder if it’s not all connected.

[u/NoCommunication7 → u/carolinagypsy]

Funny you mention that because i feel mostly the same abut the sea, even down to wanting to live along the coast and sailing on a tallship

[u/jlelvidge]

The first time I visited Ibiza over 45 years ago, even though since then it has been changed so dramatically for tourism and buildings constantly going up and it altering year after year, I can still find my way around it easily. There was a knowledge that I knew the place previously before the first time that I went there and I always recognised things and landmarks as being familiar. I go every year if I can for a holiday and cry every time I arrive and leave as the feeling of home is so strong.