# The Zoom Out.

*Exploring the concept of time.*

By [On The Inside](https://paragraph.com/@ontheinside) · 2023-08-05

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/2d47430cbed7bae2c36e28cb18b5f7e2.png)

The concept of time | A sketch by Melanie Jane

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**I am on an airplane.**

**Situated in the sky.**

**Sitting at a window seat where my gaze looks out.**

**Out the window.**

**I see the world amongst the clouds.**

**Miles look like millimeters.**

**Mountains like hills.**

**People like penciled-in dotted specs.**

**It is here that the world which, on the ground felt all-consuming, seems instead like a portrait of serenity.**

**Moments, time and the pieces that make it up are simplified.**

**Questioning stands still.**

**Worries are dwindled.**

**Dreams stand no question of attainability.**

**Lately, I have been pondering the concept of time.**

**Not necessarily in its frame of measurement by hours, seconds or minutes.**

**But as it relates to moments.**

**Plans.**

**Thoughts.**

**Desires.**

**It seems that, if I relinquish my awareness, time passes by quicker than the blink of an eye.**

**Days become seconds.**

**Moments like minutes.**

**Years pass and their memories live in the mind like a fast-forwarded film on the television screen.**

**The highlights, highlighted.**

**The hard times, referenced.**

**The peaks and valleys of the day-to-day, reviewed.**

**Though, through this perspective, can seem unimportant, insignificant or mundane.**

**Isn't it interesting?**

**The severity and weight of things that seemed astronomically big or microscopically small,**

**How these things are viewed when we zoom out the lens.**

**How we view our days when we achieve that perspective of separation that does only come with time.**

**Something that felt so big perhaps now looks small.**

**The small, seemingly unimportant, pieces whose significance now magnifies as the zoom retracts.**

**Perhaps there was that step.**

**That decision.**

**That choice.**

**That desire.**

**That felt like a whole life's weight on our shoulders as its onset approached**

**Though, through time, is understood to be an insignificant curve on our life's drawn-out map.**

**It is interesting to me,**

**The shift in understanding and perspective that comes through time.**

**Through lived moments.**

**Through continued life and breath.**

**I have lately felt inundated with the understanding that time, moments, life**

**They are all at the liberty of passing by.**

**Starting _and_ ending.**

**Quicker than we may hope or desire.**

**Some days feel like a lifetime.**

**Yet how is it that a lifetime can sometimes feel like a matter of days?**

**How is it that, when we look back, it can all boil down to those highlighted scenes in our fast-forwarded film?**

**If that is the case, how do I optimize for the best use of my time?**

**How do I ensure that I am not wasteful of the time that I am given?**

**What does wasteful even mean?**

**How do I find the moments of significance?**

**How do I ease my worries and anxieties so that the volume of the trails does not dominate the film?**

**How do I utilize this perspective?**

**To scale back the weight of the worries that come with those times of decision-making and next-step navigation?**

**How can I allow this perspective to assist me in optimizing the time that I do have?**

**Through this perspective, I have learned that the '_big things_' of each moment will likely not feel so big as time goes on.**

**But does this negate the validity of those big feelings in the present?**

**No.**

**Those feelings are valid.**

**Real.**

**In some ways, I believe they are meant to be experienced and felt.**

**Can I also take the understanding of this perspective and use it as a tool to assist me as I navigate life?**

**To ease some of those worries?**

**To lessen some of the pain?**

**I believe so.**

**Perhaps if I held onto this reminder, the big would not feel so dauntingly big.**

**Perhaps, through my anxieties, it would be easier to remember to breathe.**

**Perhaps there is a story in the zoom-out.**

**With each tick of the frame**

**Widening of the angle**

**With each passing moment in time.**

**Is it possible that it is here, in the moments after the zoom-out,**

**Where true meaning and understanding arrive?**

**It is easiest for me to grasp these concepts when I am on that airplane.**

**When I am situated in the sky.**

**When I can see the world amongst the clouds.**

**When moments, time and the pieces that make it up are simplified.**

**When questioning stands still.**

**Worries are dwindled.**

**And dreams stand no question of attainability.**

**What if I allowed these moments to make up my film?**

**This perspective to guide my understanding?**

**These thoughts to drive the evolution of my map?**

**What moments would then be in store?**

**If time was the propeller and this perspective restored.**

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*Originally published on [On The Inside](https://paragraph.com/@ontheinside/the-zoom-out)*