Is there anyone who doesn’t have problems to face? Challenges to overcome? As a species don’t we face incredible difficulties in living together peacefully? Managing resources responsibly?

Sometimes I get despondent because the road ahead seems too long, the mountain too steep or the burden too heavy to carry.

At those times, I take a small step back and try to get some distance from this moment or this period of my life.

I consider the scale of the world I live in, the immensity of the solar system and I put my life in comparison to the span of mankind’s existence in this small section of the universe.

For those moments of deep despair, I need to step far back, above everything I can comprehend, in order to get perspective.

And when I can connect with the idea that I’m a mere speck of dust, a tiny, tiny creature sitting on a small rock in the distant reaches of an average sized galaxy – I feel the humility rising. The problems are still there.

But from this vantage point I can sometimes feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.

What do you do to bring a sense of proportion back into your life?

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