How to cultivate a sense of place within rapid change.
Having lived abroad for a decade, I am familiar with the term “reverse culture shock” that many international students and expatriates experience upon moving back to their home countries. I had never expected how raw and disintegrating it would feel to me until I returned to my birthplace of Dubai in 2018. Although places and people are always changing with time, the changes seem more drastic in a transitional city by nature. A city like Dubai has rapidly progressed, where the majority of the population are expats who pass through, even if some stay for decades before doing so.
I used to wake up not knowing what kind of Reema to expect on any given day. I often felt like I had never lived in Dubai, let alone the UAE. I couldn’t even believe I had lived abroad—it was as if I had just woken up from a decade-long coma only to enter a dream. The more I tried to search for familiarity within the many changes, the more palpable the loss felt. I tried to find solace in memories, but even those slipped through my grasp in my attempt to find a solid sense of reality.
I felt this loss the strongest the first time I visited the Bur Dubai side of the Dubai Creek (near Al Fahidi) shortly after I had moved back. My childhood was connected to this area. Whenever I visit while living abroad, this area used to anchor me back within the many changes. So when I saw how much more commercialized it had become, it saddened me; I could no longer feel this anchor to my childhood.
As painful as this experience has been for me, the therapist part of my identity sees it as an interesting experiment. This experiment’s outcomes would benefit not only me but also the people I serve, who are all residents within rapid change. It would further bring me closer to a shared humanity. All of us have or eventually will have experienced a major transition or loss that has the potential to challenge our sense of identity and belonging, whether to a community, family, or to the web of life itself.
Being “home” in Dubai for me now means embracing the fact that change is part of its identity. It also means appreciating whatever “sense of place” there is. The ways I have done that so far include:
- sharing pictures of old architecture that still stand
- watching my surroundings and the people of diverse cultures who are part of this community—even if some are passing by
- learning about local plants and animals
- connecting with the community through social events or acts of service
- writing an article like this one
While the disintegration I described is no longer dominating my way of being, it still slips through time to time – but I’m better able to bounce back from it now. Whenever I notice the dreamy state trickling in, I tell myself: “What an interesting dream to be having right now! Let’s see how else I can shape this dream!” I contemplate how many of the world’s mystics, even within Islam, described the material world as a passing dream. I’m now on my way to being at home in a new reality sprouting from this dream.
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