It is easy to get caught up in the daily rituals of school or work and it can become hard to step back and enjoy the little things. My advice for anyone with a stressful week is to step back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the little beauties that are around us every day. This can be the flowers that are starting to grow, a little bird hopping on the sidewalk, or the clouds in the sky. My personal favorite is to truly look at the stars at night. Looking up at the night sky is a humbling, inspiring experience. Everyone has seen the night sky, but have we all truly looked at it?
When one truly steps back and looks at these stars, they are seeing history. They are seeing the stories of ancient cultures through constellations and the light produced by the stars millennia before humans were even on this Earth. Humans have always tried to make sense of the stars and of the wonder that comes from them. We have used them for guidance, for explanations, and for research. Stars are intertwined with the history of man. We are on this planet because of one and we are alive because of one. Looking at the stars is more than looking up at night, and it is more than just seeing a few white dots if you truly look.
Oscar Wilde once said, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
The gutter is obviously a metaphor for the daily struggles that we have in life, as morbid and depressing as that may seem. That can be something as simple as having a bad day to something as horrific as losing a family member and the grief that comes from that. Either way, we, as humans, are always in some sort of gutter. We are not perfect and neither are our lives, as much as we wish that they were. Wilde touches on something beautiful in his quote, something that we should all take to heart, something that can help us in life. "Some of us are looking at the stars." What does this mean? Does he literally mean that we're looking at the stars or is it something more? When he says "looking at the stars" he means some of us, the ones who are truly happy, are looking at something beautiful even when they are stuck in a gutter. When we look at the stars, we are looking at history and we are looking at something that is brilliant and beautiful. When we see a little bird hopping, we are looking at life. When we look at flowers, we are looking at rebirth, at spring. It is important to look at the stars because we will be unhappy if we do not. If we go through life never looking at a bigger picture and never admiring the beauty around us, we truly will be stuck in the gutter.
That is why it is important to look at the stars. So, stop looking at your smartphone and look up. They are beautiful, trust me.
