Small Against the Stone

I spent an hour this morning standing in front of the old library downtown, just looking up. I usually rush past it, head down, checking my phone for emails or worrying about the grocery list. But today, the sun hit the stone facade in a way that made the building feel impossibly tall, like it was reaching for something I couldn’t see. I felt so small standing there on the sidewalk. It is a strange, grounding feeling to realize how little space you take up in the grand scheme of things. We spend so much of our lives trying to be seen, trying to leave a mark, or trying to be the center of our own stories. Yet, there is a quiet comfort in being just a tiny speck against something that has stood for a hundred years. It makes the weight of the day feel a little lighter, doesn’t it? What is the last place that made you feel truly small?

Jabbar Jamil has captured this exact feeling of scale in his beautiful image titled The Royal Fort. It reminds me that we are only ever visitors in the spaces we inhabit. Does this view make you feel peaceful or perhaps a bit overwhelmed?