If someone were to ask me what I love most about Earth's nature, the sky would be one of my answers. For some people, trees could fascinate them with their beauty. For others, their favorite aspect of Nature is the changing seasons themselves.
How long has it been since you have taken a look outside and felt a connection to Nature? To the snow as it glides to the ground, to the trees as they sway in the breeze, to the way narrow creeks burble as the water cascades over small pebbles? There is so much to discover on our planet. So much to be grateful for as another season passes us.
Look at your planet. Take a second, find a window, or step outside and look. Find what makes you smile. What makes you feel whole?
I have learned important lessons from that dome above. Everyone shares the sky, the canvas of stars on their shifts every cloudless night. The sky holds so much; it is our lense, our telescope, our portal to other universes. The everchanging aura of the sky will be forever unmatched.
Sitting around a campfire in the woods, some drifting towards pinpricks we call stars suspended in their pocket worlds. Walking barefoot on the beach early in the morning,1 AM, and the crashing tides close in, receding, sweeping through eternity in this rhythmical pattern. Constellations. The Milky Way spills forth a plethora of spiraling, churning, incomprehensible colors every night. To turn off the sweeping arc of a flashlight and welcome the beam of light erupting from the sky is an ode to Nature.
The sky is our path to the universe, ours, and the infinitely many more we will never get to explore. And within that fact lies a lesson. We are so small, and yet we matter so, so much. But there is more to the drapery ensconcing us on this planet with its bountiful resources and thick atmosphere--more to the sky than I can fathom.
I have had so many memories, jarring feelings and wistful moments, lying on the grass, staring into the light. Staring at the blue fading into orange, pink, purple, and a golden hue overtaking the world. The sky is vast as it performs for its planet, shielding us from the sun and allowing us to glimpse snatches of the sun and moon's cyclical journeys. Right now, while I write these ineffective, maddeningly imperfect words, the sky is smiling at us. The brilliant blue reflected in oceans, lakes, rivers and streams.
The second lesson is an indescribable feeling. I can look up at the sky and feel something beyond myself. It is terrifying and humbling, teeming with possibility from horizon to horizon.
The sky was never the limit. The sky is the focus point humanity peers through and watches their limits become reality. We want to define and know everything, and yet we look up. We used the sky's cerulean shifts to map the time and seasons, charted paths with our ships, and harnessed the stars from their posts into our telescopes.
For me, the sky is where I find solace. Where the blue takes me on an adventure, the clouds blurring into a future I will someday grasp; the sky has taught me to look up. Look up from your book, your work; look up and out of your burnt-out mind. Look up from where anxiety is carving you hollow. The sky has taught me to look up on beautiful days and open my eyes. Sometimes, I'm wearing headphones or vibing to music in the car when I look out the window, see the contrast between blue and green and can't help but smile.
You are here, the sky reminds me. And I am here to watch over you. I was gripped with fierce nostalgia when my friend told me on a day awash with blue, "remember the days when we looked at clouds all day?" And we were the happiest kids, staring at condensed water, trying to make sense of it. The best part of those moments was that we were at peace, watching clouds drift and being content with the state of our world. The sky reminds me of the innocence we once had, and how valuable it is to keep a part of ourselves untethered.
Some of my best memories are painted under the dreariest, brightest, or purplest of skies. I learned how to dance in my room because of the sky, though that story is for another post. I remember times when I stood under our planet's dome, looked up, and was humbled by everything I do not and will never know.
Nature is a wonder, a miracle we get to experience every day. Most of us get used to seeing color and forget its presence. Most of us admire trees only when we desire shade from an unforgiving summer day. I hope whoever stumbles across this post decides to take a walk today. Look up. You may find solace in the sky or another aspect of Nature. We all deserve to be loved, and Nature has a way of making everyone feel valued. It is our responsibility to make sure we protect our planet and the other animals inhabiting it.
The sky has taught me to try and fail, to work hard but always look up. Look up, smile, and begin again. In the metaphorized version of my life, the sky would symbolize hope.
"Only from the heart can you touch the sky." - Rumi
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