The desert doesn't offer easy comfort, but it teaches you where to find water. The deepest thirst comes not from lack of water, but from not knowing where to look. We waste our energy wandering in circles, convinced it isn't there at all. Sometimes the map is wrong. Trust the pull in your own gut, even when it contradicts what you've been told. The water knows its own way. It's humbling to realize how much of my early life was spent drinking sand, mistaking the mirage for the real thing. The body knows the difference, eventually. It begins to scream.