Dubai Lifestyle: The End of the Flexible Era

dubai lifestyle

Although I’ve been living in Dubai since April of 2010, my lifestyle and activities have been dramatically evolving each year. Like most expats who first move to the dynamic, glamourous city, I used to be open to going out to almost any event that sounded interesting to me. I would accept random invites for all kinds of public events, social parties and other meetings. It was the Dubai lifestyle for me.

My Dubai Lifestyle

Since I was living in Saudi Arabia in my twenties, Dubai was the perfect outlet for my suppressed twenty-something soul to come out and play! From big artists’ concerts, to random community happenings, to media and press events, if it sounded interesting, I was up for it. Of course not forgetting meeting with people from all across the world and going out to the city’s many bars, lounges and night clubs.
I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t sensible when attending those events, accepting the social/media invites or socializing with new people. I like to see it as an essential Dubai life chapter and a very valuable life experience. Without all those diverse interactions, random meetings, sometimes silly and stupid outings, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Hibernation Mode

After the exploration/living life to the fullest Dubai chapter, I went into an ‘I’m not attending any event’ mode. The reason for this mindset was simple: I found myself attending so many events and supporting random businesses and people without getting anything in return. Was I meeting interesting people? No. Were people who I met investing a second of their time in following my blog? No. Was I meeting new, decent men for potential life partnership? Hell no. Then why on earth was I investing so much time, energy and money into attending those random community, business events? I think it was just my natural curiosity and outgoing, positive attitude towards life.
My recent hibernation mode was necessary. It was vital for my growth. In fact, it was inevitable. How could anyone not avoid being out in public after meeting so many random people from a plethora of ethnic backgrounds and cultures? How could you not crawl into a shell and hide after supporting so many businesses and individuals and not getting anything in return? This stage was definitely unavoidable.
This brings us to today. Post hibernation mode and after my recent enlightening Bali trip, I’ve decided to enter the non-flexibility era. Let me explain: during this chapter of my Dubai life, I only accept invites which are aligned to my values, are of interest to me and are within my element. Basically, it’s a stage similar to the first Dubai chapter, only at a more selective level. This means that I hibernate and hide for most of the time and only appear when I choose to.

Stick to the Plan

Another important difference in this renewed Dubai lifestyle is that I need to be very specific in the events that I attend, the activities that I do and the individuals who I interact with. I need to avoid floating and being open to random interactions and putting myself in a plethora of settings. To make this point more clear, I used to go to work/write from random cafes near my area on a daily basis. Now, I need to create a routine that I can stick to. I plan to check out a co-working space next week to see if I feel comfortable working from there. After Ramadan, I plan to check other venues to see which one matches my personality and values most.
When it comes to meeting new people (specifically men), I’ve also tried a plethora of methods and have found no success until today. What’s interesting and good about me is that I never give up. I always find new ways to do things, I get super hopeful and excited about them, then when they don’t work out, I simply move to the next best thing.

An Eternal Optimist

Being an eternal optimist helps as I never get bored or tired from testing something new to see if it works or not. I also think this is how we all grow and evolve. Without experimenting with different things, there can be no growth or learning.
I will update you on my next man-hunting method in another blog post. I can’t guarantee any positive results though!
You’re probably wondering about which chapter comes after this super selective and non-flexible stage of my Dubai lifestyle. I actually already have it figured out. I will reveal it in another blog post
Do you work from cafes sometimes? Are you a digital nomad or freelancer? If so, where do you like to work from? Is there any Dubai co-working space that you prefer to work from?

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