When a stranger sees what we can't

We woke at 4am in the small Nepalese hill village of Bandipur to hike up to a viewpoint before sunrise.

It was completely dark when we started walking through the village towards Thani Mai Temple. Nobody was around. Just the sound of our footsteps oand our flashlights cutting through the darkness ahead of us.

We reached the top and perched on a rock to watch the sky slowly change its color over the mountains. It wasn't the dramatic sunrise you see in movies - no blazing orange sky or cinematic clouds. Just a soft dusky blue. Calm, serene.

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While walking back down, we stopped at a rusty, worn-out bench overlooking the valley and sat there in silence, taking in the view.

I heard the footsteps of a stranger walking past behind us.

A few seconds later, the footsteps stopped and came back towards us.

"Can I help take a photo of both of you?"

I've thought about that small interaction many times since.

From where we were sitting, it seemed like an ordinary moment. Tired from waking early and the uphill climb, quietly catching our breath, gazing out at the landscape of Nepal.

But from someone else's perspective, it looked beautiful enough to capture.

When a stranger sees what we can't

Life can be like that.

When we are in the middle of our routines, worries and uncertainties, it can be difficult to step back far enough to see the bigger picture clearly. We only see ourselves walking through darkness, trying to get somewhere or recovering from a journey.

But someone standing outside the moment may be seeing things differently. Connection, stillness, possibilities.

Afterwards, we continued walking back down to the village and stopped for breakfast. Hot momos. Morning sunlight warming the hills around Bandipur.

That simple moment stayed with me. Because seeing things differently doesn't always happen at the top of the climb, but afterwards - when we stop moving long enough to gain perspective.