When is reality distorted?

     I enjoy reading about others' personal experiences, especially when they're relatable to a wide group of people. Naturally, the common "experience" can range from physical to emotional, but I love the ones that are unexplainable; ones that mess with the psyche, but are optional to ignore. They are almost always unspoken of in public, yet when the topic is hinted at, an exciting flurry of back-and-forth's occur that usually starts with "Hey, I get that feeling as well!"
     In the middle of the summer, I read a post on Instagram describing the experiences where and when "reality is distorted". Sounding odd enough by the title, I found myself silently disagreeing with the majority of the places and times, but understanding what the original poster was trying to get at. Though I could absolutely be reading way too deep into this, I found it fascinating; I knew of places where you feel light, or you feel like there's a shift from your current mood. After finding where the post took the picture from, I realized the examples I can come up with are never physical. They're brief periods of time when you can't care less about the past, present or future. Sometimes it's a large blanket of confusion and feeling of hesitation in a place that can't possibly be dangerous.



The "distortions" I experience typically involve extreme relaxation. I'm going to list a couple of them below; let me know if you have any idea of what I'm talking about, or if I'm just weird.

• Your bedroom at 5:00 AM

This was one of the experiences I agreed with in the original post. Especially after staying up for a long time, there's something that makes you feel weightless when you sit on your bed and watch the sky fade to a moody, cloudy blue, waiting for the orange lamps to glow in reaction to the light, morning's kiss effecting the nature surrounding your house before it does to you. It's a big reason why I like the summer; it gets brighter more earlier and darker more later. Mega bonus points for when it's also raining, snowing, thundering etc.

• Playgrounds at night

Places that are usually bumbling with energy can feel wrong when the opposite vibe is being produced; quiet, dark, and empty feelings usually come out of it. I think the experience there can be different with friends. With friends, I think a hidden feeling of "I finally get to try that swing set again without all those kids around!" awakens again from childhood, and two or more people in a place meant for dozens can feel exhilarating. But when you're alone, I find it to be more spooky.

• Empty supermarkets

I might be noticing a trend; most of these involve the feeling of isolation. When there's no one but the workers in a massive place built to hold hundreds, it's fun to race through the isles with friends and playing catch with items over the walls holding electronics or toys. Otherwise, to me it brings calmness; when I'm alone, I usually want to linger for a bit before I immediately want to purchase an item and leave.

I could be ruining this weird phenomenon. A lot of things are best silently ignored, yet appreciated when the time comes. Sometimes less words are better to describe large things. But I enjoyed discussing it, and I'm interested to hear if anyone else knows what this is as well.