Nomadic reflections: from Western comforts to the edge of existence

A tale of travel, culture, and confronting mortality

“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” — Leonardo da Vinci.

In this post, I share an intensely personal and traumatic experience from the past. It’s the story of how I left the familiar confines of a growing commercial North America to embark on a journey to Northern Africa, a trip that unexpectedly forced me to confront my own mortality and ponder profound some questions:

What does waiting to die feel like? What happens when we die? As well as what happens when we hear the pounding of our hearts in the desert?

This recount is more than just a travel story; it’s a meditation on life, death, and the values we hold dear in this fleeting journey we call existence.

When I was twenty-four years old — essentially half a lifetime ago — I was swept up in an extraordinary adventure, a co-conceived tour of dazzling cities and untamed global exploits. It took me from the cold and dreary landscape in Centre town Ottawa, Canada (next level brrrr) where…