The Desert Teaches You More About Water

There’s an old African proverb that goes:

“Only the desert knows the value of water.”

It stayed with me cause it speaks directly to the soul of shadow work.

We spend so much of life chasing water.
Joy. Light. Clarity. Confidence.
We want to swim in the ocean of fullness.
We want to be nourished by life. To overflow.
To sparkle. To be whole.

But here’s the secret:
The parts of you that crave the most water
are the ones you’ve banished to the desert.

The desert is your unconscious.
The forgotten inner terrain.
The “no man’s land” where grief is buried,
vulnerability is mocked,

It’s hot. Lonely. Stark.
It feels empty—until you stop running from it.
Then it teaches you everything.

You see, the ocean can show you how to float…
but only the desert can teach you why you thirst.

That’s why shadow work matters.
Not because it feels good.
But because it brings you to the places
no one else dares to visit.
The emotional wastelands.

And in that silence—
you don’t find the light.
You find the need for light.

And that changes you.

It humbles you.
It grounds you.
It softens the judgments you’ve had of others.
Because you’ve now walked in their desert, too.

So don’t just chase the water.

Walk your desert.

Let it burn away the mask.
Let it teach you what the ocean never could.

And when water finally comes…
you’ll drink it with reverence.
Because now, you know what it costs
to be whole.