Paths We Thrive On

I've been thinking about what to write for a while now. Something honest, but not another post dressed up in borrowed optimism.

As a freelance photographer — as a creative — it's always a balancing act between staying true to yourself and saying something that actually lands. Especially right now.

For those of us based in the UAE, we know. We know what the mood has been like. A lot of us are putting on brave faces, but underneath that, we're quietly grappling with decisions we genuinely didn't think we'd have to make just a few months ago.

Scrolling through messages from people who've been laid off, desperately looking for their next move — it adds weight to something already heavy.

I've been relatively lucky so far. But I'm also not naive about where I sit. Photography — especially the kind I do — is considered a luxury, not a necessity. Even when you're good at what you do, even when you've built something you're proud of, you ask yourself: is that enough right now?

When people reach out to me for advice, I often say the same thing: this might be a season for growth somewhere else. That this country isn't going anywhere. It'll be here when you're ready to come back.

I say that from experience. I left for two years. It was hard leaving. It was hard being away. And it was hard starting again when I came back.

But what is hard tends to make us stronger — even when that sounds unbearably clichéd in the middle of it.

I also know that not everyone has somewhere safe to return to. Some people are fighting to stay not out of preference, but because home isn't a stable or safe option. And not everyone has won life's passport lottery — that invisible factor that quietly shapes how many doors are even open to you.

I'm not going to close this with something about resilience.

All I can say is: I hope the next path — wherever it leads — is one you thrive on.