A Feeling of Insignificance

a brief insight into thoughts of insignificance whilst on holiday.

A Feeling of Insignificance

 

I sit writing this on a quiet beach on a Thursday morning on the Isle of Arran in Scotland.

I am about 4 feet from the sea. I have already been in the freezing cold water up to my knees. The isolation is bliss, the only sound is of the waves on the shore, which in itself is peaceful.

The mainland is only 55 minutes away, yet it may as well be a 10 hour flight away. Work, people, rush hour traffic and busy shops have been left behind.

I have spent so long now thinking about how to word this that the tide has forced me back!

A feeling of insignificance has overtaken me. I glance to my right and I see Goatfell, the tallest mountain on the island. I made it to the top yesterday. Whilst at the top, that feeling of insignificance hit me. You are a speck at the top of a big mountain, looking down at the island and across the mainland, a feeling of being exposed hits, perhaps by the size and scale of everything around me, along with the awareness that 1 wrong step and you fall from a seemingly never ending drop.

A bizarre feeling of wanting to jump crosses my mind briefly. I surely wont be the only person with that thought though.

Whilst nobody should feel insignificant, in many ways we are. 1 life in 7 billion on Earth.

The tide has once again caught up to me. Time to go. A trip on the Waverley awaits this afternoon.

 

I started writing this on a whim, perhaps caught up by my surroundings, who knows.

I never had an ending in mind, still don’t, I may come back to it, or post as is.

 

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

No ending is needed. It is what it is--a few moments of heightened senses while reeling in the power of the cosmos. I've been to similar places and felt much the same. Very strong writing, my friend.

[Chris Rankine]

Thanks very much for your feedback, and kind words Samuel. Appreciated