When people talk about Dubai, the conversation usually starts with luxury, skyscrapers, and speed. And yes, all of that is very real. But what stayed with me most wasn’t just the shine – it was the feeling of being in a place where everything seems to be in the middle of becoming something bigger.
A city filled with people chasing different versions of “better.” Somewhere in observing all that motion, I found myself quietly questioning the limits I’ve placed on my own life.
Dubai at night doesn’t feel like nighttime the way most cities do. It doesn’t slow down, dim itself, or gently tuck the day away. If anything, it turns up the volume. The lights stretch endlessly across buildings, roads, bridges, and water, and everything seems to glow with purpose. It’s beautiful, yes – but it’s also slightly overwhelming in the way only very alive places can be.
At one point, while just standing near the waterfront and staring at the skyline, my brain quietly asked me,
“Who actually builds things like this?”
Dubai doesn’t whisper its existence. It speaks in bold fonts, glowing colours, and unapologetic scale.
And somewhere between the lights and the silence that followed later, something inside me felt very unfinished.
Standing at the foot of the Burj Khalifa does something strange to you. Your neck tilts back. Your sense of proportion gets confused. Your ego, without being asked, quietly takes a seat.
You feel the weight of human imagination stacked floor by floor, ambition by ambition.
I remember thinking for a moment,
Did we really need it to be this tall?
And in the very next second, another thought arrived, completely uninvited,
Did we really need to limit ourselves at all?
I guess, Dubai doesn’t argue with logic. It simply points upward and lets you rethink everything.
And then came the desert, and suddenly, the noise stopped. After so much glass, steel, speed, and stimulation, the sand felt like a deep breath I didn’t realise I was holding. The silence out there is different. It doesn’t comfort you in the usual way. It slowly questions you.
People sat quietly on carpets under open skies. No skyscrapers. No LED ambition. Just wind in the distance, footprints in the sand, and stars doing their ancient, patient work.
And standing there, with sand under my shoes and silence everywhere else, one thought settled in with surprising clarity:
Dubai doesn’t erase its past to build its future.
It carries both at the same time.
A place that once survived with very little now dreams without apology. And that quiet contrast, more than the skyline, more than the lights, stayed with me long after I left the desert behind.
This part doesn’t show up clearly in photographs.
It shows up in a cab conversations that last only ten minutes but feel strangely personal.
It shows up in hotel staff who work long hours with quiet discipline.
It shows up in servers, security guards, shopkeepers, drivers – all carrying pieces of different countries inside the same city.
Dubai quietly runs on reinvention. For many people here, this city is not about luxury. It’s more about starting over with slightly better odds.
And that realisation grounded me in a way I didn’t expect.
Behind every impossible building, there are very possible humans who decided not to give up.
Well, now I also want to talk about the quiet emotional journey my middle-class brain went on in Dubai, because honestly… it deserves its own support group.
There’s a specific moment that happens in Dubai when your brain quietly gives up trying to compare things with home. Roads feel wider than they need to be. Buildings rise like they skipped a few stages of growth. Even the casual places somehow look… ambitious.
I remember watching cars pass by and realising I’d stopped thinking in numbers altogether. It wasn’t “expensive” anymore; it was simply “not part of my financial vocabulary.” Even the malls felt like small cities itself with air-conditioning.
Nothing felt aggressive or showy. Everything just felt confidently oversized, like the city wasn’t trying to prove anything; it already knew what it was.
But here’s the part people don’t always talk about.
Behind the glow, there is loneliness.
Behind the speed, there is emotional distance.
Behind the ambition, there is separation from families, roots, and the life people once knew.
Not everyone in Dubai is chasing joy. Many are chasing responsibility.
This city taught me something simple and heavy at the same time:
Wanting more always costs something.
And sometimes, that cost is emotional.
And yet… people still come.
People still build.
People still take the risk.
Because for many, the alternative feels smaller than the risk itself.
I didn’t return with luxury habits. I didn’t return richer. And I definitely didn’t return with a new lifestyle overnight.
What I brought back instead was inconvenient:
A discomfort with small thinking.
A louder inner voice.
A refusal to hide behind “practicality” as a polite name for fear.
Dubai didn’t upgrade my life.
It quietly upgraded my relationship with possibility.
If humans can build something like this from sand, I have no right to underestimate what I can build from doubt.
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Been there. Done that. I relate to this so much. Really enjoyed reading your experience.
Thanks, Michael. It’s comforting in a way to know that feeling isn’t a solo experience.
Wow...a place which glows with purpose...in the midst of becoming...beautiful words and fabulous photos, Ritish and I love your thoughtful conclusion about how the experience "upgraded your relationship with possibility"...not perfection or some lofty (maybe unattainable goal)...but possibilities. Love it! 💝
Yes Vicki. I’m really glad the idea of possibility stood out to you, because that was the quiet takeaway for me too. Not perfection, not arrival… just a wider sense of what might be possible 🙌🏼
So good! 🥰
I haven’t read a post quite like this before, one that sees both incredible possibilities and the dark underbelly at the same time. I would think that in a city built for opulent consumerism, that sex trafficking is going on behind closed doors at a massive rate, for where the moneyed go, so do their desires. When billionaires can own anything and everything, owning the autonomy and dignity of people is another thing they consume.
I like how you’ve seen possibilities in your own life, it’s a good thing to release our own inner barriers to see what we can become.
Well, to be very honest Tamara, the coexistence of possibility and a darker underbelly is something I wrestled with while writing this. I don’t think cities like Dubai exist in moral absolutes - they amplify both human ambition and human appetite, and it would be naive to pretend otherwise.
And that's the truth everywhere, isn't it? Where unchecked wealth gathers, exploitation often finds space to hide. I didn’t want to ignore that reality.
for me, that was never about glorifying the city itself, but about noticing how environments can expose our own limits and responsibilities.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and honest response.
It must have been a great experience for you, Ritish, and I can see why.
It really was an experience that stayed with me longer than I expected.
An interesting Article. It confirms to me the absolute certainty as a human being to learn to live a BALANCED life. lIKE THE SEGMENTS OF OF AN ORANGE. ONE Orange - one life - it must slot together or will end up with a Dubai feeling of never being satisfied. ONE SEGMENT will deteriorate and then the orange will DIE. rest DAILY peace restores. Where Do we REST and Who is the Prince of PEACE. Thoughts to ponder.
Well, that's add another layer to the conversation Faye. And I so agree that without balance and rest, even the most impressive pursuits can feel empty or unsustainable over time. This trip wasn’t so much about wanting everything, but about noticing what ambition can do. But yeah, your reflection is a valuable one. Thank you for bringing that perspective here.
I've wondered what Dubai is really like, thank you for this insight.
Dubai is layered in ways that are hard to explain, but I'm happy this offered a bit of insights. Thanks for reading.
Reading this, makes me wanna go there and see these wonders myself.
I hope you will. But if you ever go, take it slow and look beyond the obvious stuff.
I visited Dubai last year and was fascinated by it.
Oh you had. I can totally see why. Thanks, Luisa.
You're more than welcome🌹
Ritish, A fantastic post! Gorgeous photos! Thank you for sharing them and sharing your insightful thoughts and reflections.
You can appreciate and be inspired by seeing things without wishing to posses them. I agree with you that it is beneficial to be optimistic about reaching our goals.
I love flowers, and I occasionally buy some at the supermarket. I pause to admire and appreciate the fragrance of the whole display before buying one bunch of flowers.
Similarly, I enjoy looking at merchandise on the Amazon website, but I wouldn't want to take care of a houseful of high-maintence possessions.
Take care, Ritish! 💕😊💕
I get it, Cheryl. That is such a healthy way to move through a world that constantly tells us to want more. Optimism doesn’t have to mean accumulation. Really appreciate you sharing this thoughtful reflection. Take care as well 💕😊
Wow, Ritish, what an incredible picture you paint. So interesting to think of the "bigness" of Dubai compared to the immensity of the Himalayas. A different kind of awe and perhaps that's part of all your deep realizations. This one really hit me: "Wanting more always costs something.
And sometimes, that cost is emotional."
Incredible! Thanks for sharing the journey!
Yep, compared to the Himalayas, its a completely different kind of awe, but awe nonetheless. This one comes from scale built by humans. Thanks for reading so thoughtfully Wynne 🙌🏼
That makes me wannnnaaa go there so bad. Beautiful photography Ritish.
You're gonna love it. Thankyou for reading, Dagfinn.
Amazing photos, Ritish, and your insights after visiting Dubai are fascinating and profound. What a perfect ending: "It quietly upgraded my relationship with possibility." I've never been, so I appreciate you sharing.
Yeah, that line kind of came to me after the trip, once everything settled a bit. I’m happy you picked up on it. Appreciate you taking the time to read and say this.
My pleasure, Ritish, and I wish you a wonderful holiday week!
Thank you for an inspiring, but thought-provoking, post
Appreciate you reading and sharing your thoughts too, Michael.