We become the spaces we occupy

I see people walking in high rise offices, malls and buildings. I see them stiff. Cold just like the temperature of those buildings. I won’t lie, they also seem strong. Very strong people. They look prim and proper just like the buildings they walk into. Hair strands in place, glass glowy skins which compliments the floor they walk upon. I see them seeing themselves in mirrors, conscious and confident. It feels like they are cemented together by a plaster. And it will take a whole lot of hammering to break down the walls they have created within. Their paces are in check and are almost similar. I see humans becoming the buildings they occupy.

And then I see people on treks, in villages, in open spaces, head out of sunroof people, we are on a cycling tour people, we do yoga in park people and hey we are on a walk with our dog people. And I see them in looseened fibres of their body. I see them sweaty and digging for some more. They are strong too, but with some inexplicable ease. Not bothered by the frizz in their hair strands. Not looking for mirrors to see their own reflection. Less conscious about their own self and just being. Just like nature. I see people becoming wind, fire, a chirpy river , irregular and still gorgeous in their raw being.

Be it streets, buildings, homes, woods, mountains or beaches, I have seen people transforming into spaces they occupy. This reminds me to be a little mindful when i think of my future self. It shouldn’t be limited to a career graph that starts and ends in a building. It should be taking dips in undiscovered ponds, it should be cycling on the coastal roads, it should be practising yoga everyday in open spaces, it should be in flights but mostly in trains and thanks to the hybrid work culture it is possible.

I don’t want to be a fancy glass building. I want to be a brook, I want to be wind and I want to be fire, irregular, giving and getting consumed by one’s own energy kind of a human.

Originally published at https://shivalisharma.substack.com on July 30, 2022.