It’s 5 p.m. and the temperature is dipping into nighttime coolness. My teeth are chattering as I trudge up the steep driveway, lugging my family’s yard waste trash can behind me. Head pounding with frustration, I was still reeling from the realization that I had forgotten to take the trash cans out.

I was still sulking as I wheeled the trash can out to the street, carefully gripping the handles (there always seemed to be a menacing spider on them). With a huff, I parked the can, gravel crunching beneath my feet.

As I swatted away the hundredth fly that decided to buzz into my face, my eye was caught on the horizon.

Framed by willowy emerald trees, the sky was alight with a beautiful sunset. Flaming red gave way to buttery yellow that faded into an iridescent lavender blue. Glowing peach clouds floated into the distance like swaths of cotton candy.

My breath hitched for a moment as I really opened my eyes and saw. There were no words. 

There was only the sky and the eternal beauty of colors that hung between our world and the rest of the universe.

The knot in my chest loosened as I inhaled the cool air and grounded myself in that moment, gazing at the sunset. The corners of my mouth curled into a soft smile as I strolled back into my house, and my frustration fully dissipated.

Sometimes we move so fast through our lives that we overlook nature’s simple gifts. Finding something about the world to love and appreciating it every day is one little thing that makes me feel content in my life.

This ritual of looking up at the sky helps me put my thoughts into perspective. Maybe I don’t want to take out the trash cans, but how important is that in the grand scope of the universe? Maybe my siblings are getting on my nerves, but will a petty argument matter in five years? 

Maybe my head is swimming with doubt, but why would I give attention to my insecurities when the sky looks like that?

Peace settles over me whenever I look up, as if the ocean has finally settled after a millennium of constant movement. Attaching positive emotions to the sky grants me an escape from emotional turmoil.

If my schoolwork is weighing on me, sitting outside and staring into the endless, unblemished cobalt blue lifts my stress. On nights where I feel trapped in my skin, tracing constellations over the velvety black sky makes me feel at home in the world. After a restless night, the pastel display of the sunrise reminds me that a new day will begin.

Lifting our bloodshot eyes from our phone screens, past our troubles and to the sky can help give us perspective. Our lives are significant in their own way, but we have to remember not to take ourselves so seriously.

Looking up at the sky anchors me while enabling me to see things from a bird’s-eye view.

There’s something about staring into infinity that humbles my existence.