Rigor Samsa

Inspired by the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows of writer John Koenig, these words that define obscure emotions come to life. Rigor Samsa: a kind of psychological exoskeleton that can protect you from pain and contain your anxieties, but always ends up cracking under pressure or hollowed out by time—and will keep growing back again and again, until you develop a more sophisticated emotional structure, held up by a strong and flexible spine, built less like a fortress than a cluster of treehouses.