Appreciating the rush within a city is magical. Understandably, there’s a cause or purpose to every hurried journey. The individuality throughout a busy city is eye catching. Every worker, student and tourist each have their own story. Sonder, the profound and sudden realisation that every random passerby is living a life as vivid, complex and chaotic as your own. To be curious of the unknown and nothing more.
The rush that carries a city is common and can be misunderstood as familiar. It becomes routine, almost rhythmic, like a pulse that never slows. A breath, a blink, freezes everything just for a moment. In that pause, the noise softens and the movement blurs into something almost poetic. The comparison is eye opening when the difference is highlighted, when you step outside of it and realise how deeply it moves you.
This comparison is refreshing when the difference is highlighted. A recent trip surpassing Glencoe was much more than a journey in passing, but a moment that stuck. With a destination like the Isle of Skye, it’s supernatural. The colder air and lighter breath made everything make sense. The quiet life, the simple understanding. It felt like the opposite of the rush, yet carried its own rhythm just slower, steadier, and grounding.
From the narrow roads to the soaring mountains that you couldn’t comprehend. Every second was taken in from a different point of beauty. New steps, new scenery. It was amazing. The vastness replaces the crowd, the silence replaces the sirens, yet both hold a presence that demands to be felt. Where the city rushes forward without waiting, the landscape stands still, patient and enduring.
Forthgoing, it signifies the understanding between the two and the beauty of both. Appreciating both, at which in awe they leave you with a different perspective. The city teaches awareness of others, the constant reminder of sonder. The Highlands offer awareness of self, space to breathe, to think, to feel small in the best possible way.
Take a moment to appreciate your surroundings. What feels ordinary to you might be someone else’s moment of relief.
