The long walk.
This story has a point, please bare with me.
I sometimes get a strange idea into my head and then feel compelled to follow through with it. Yesterday was such a day. In fact, I had had this idea for a while now and my wife had already given up on me. Then yesterday morning I decided to do it – to walk the length of Dubai, from Dubai Media City to my favourite Dubai restaurant – Ravi’s.
For those not familiar with Dubai’s geography, this walk (which is not really a typical “walk” but instead just follows Jumeirah Beach Road from one end to the other) is about 12 or 15 miles long. On top of that, Dubai temperatures currently reach about 43C.
Let’s discuss whether I am quite right in the head another day, but let’s just say I made it (in 4 hours 55 minutes, if you must know).
During those 4 hours 55 minutes I had a lot of time to think, which carried on after I returned home in a taxi in a depressingly fast 20 minutes and was nursing the blisters on my feet.
The one thought that kept popping in my head as I walked past expensive malls and plastic surgery clinics was this: “Why am I doing this? I better get something out of this, because it’s starting to get rather painful.”
One might argue that a nice curry from Ravi’s would have been my reward, but seeing as the restaurant was shut, it appears the only reward I got was this blog post. Looks like you – the reader – are getting more out of it that me with my blisters!
Anyway, I started to think that these thoughts seemed rather familiar and then it hit me. My DMC to Ravi’s walk was much like what many of us are going through at the moment.
We’ve all embarked on a journey that seemed a good idea some time ago when we first thought about it. And while the first couple of miles were rather pleasant, all of a sudden something outside of our control (in my case the sun after 10am – in the case of this illustration the global financial crisis, just in case you hadn’t got that yet) started beating us down.
The next thought is to just get a taxi and go home, but then what was the point of doing this in the first place? I would just be sitting at home thinking “What if?” Let’s just try and get a little further and see how far we can go. Then you get to the point where it’s not only incredibly hot, but you can feel the first blisters – now it’s physical, not just a mental strain.
But, luckily there are some petrol stations along the way where you can replenish your bottles of water and even the odd pharmacy to get some plasters for those blisters. And you venture on, but know full well that you’re not even half way there yet. It’s been a while since you’ve done this, but some of us have never been in this situation before. If I had been walking with someone, I would have given them a pep-talk at this point, especially if they had never walked this ‘walk’ before. Everyone needs a bit of motivation every now and again.
All of a sudden, you see a landmark that you recognize and you know that you are doing well, but only five minutes down the road you witness a horrendous car crash. It only just happened a few minutes earlier and you don’t know the driver, but you realize that he was traveling in the same direction, in the fast lane – and now he’s crashed.
And you keep thinking: “Why am I doing this?” and “I better be getting something out of this!” After all, you don’t want to end up in a crash. So you venture on.
Shortly after this point I was walking past Lime Tree Café, which is probably the place with the most wonderful foods in Dubai. What a temptation to just stop and spend my taxi money and call it a day – worry about what happens after that delicious piece of Carrot Cake later!
But no! You must walk on, you will make it to Ravi’s! You will make the full length of the walk, especially as it is only one or two more miles from where we are now! Come on!
And I walked, almost delirious (ok, I exaggerate!), but definitely on auto-pilot to the end of this journey. And you know what? I arrive just as the temperature peaks at 43C. It’s 1.15pm and the sun is at its highest. But the taxi with the aircon on full blast is waiting and the rest of the trip of the way is much more pleasant.
You and I are walking the same walk, we’ve both been affected by the global financial crisis – after all who hasn’t!? And because you are walking the same walk, I will give you this pep-talk. It’s ok, we just have to venture on a bit more and try not to give in to the temptations of giving up too early. When the temperature is at its hottest you are closest to finishing your long walk – just remember that and venture on.
