Burning Man 2024 - Also The Best. Year. Ever!!
Burning Man 2024 - Also… Best. Year. Ever!
It’s a great pattern to be able to claim both Tomorrowland and Burning Man as the Best Year Ever!!
In writing this post I couldn’t decide how much depth I wanted to offer. Burning Man is so many things… too many to capture into a blog post. I decided to stick to my greatest lessons, leaving those that are Curious to read more about the spirit of Burning Man on their official site: https://burningman.org/
Lesson #1: Real Time Off Is Great
It’s a rarity in life that any of us are a day without our phones. Our society has been built around this hyper-connectedness, for right or wrong. The last time I’ve had a “real time off” from work for this long of a time was almost three years ago when I wrote this blog post. During that trip, I intentionally disconnected for seven days at my beachside Airbnb and just… sat. I thought, I journaled, I cooked, but I never opened my phone or computer.
I was fortunate enough to be able to do the same this year at Burning Man. Eight uninterrupted days of living - not in a phone (photos courtesy of Laura), not on emails, not in work, but rather just experiencing the world as it provided me new information.
What I noticed most was that time slowed down. Because I couldn’t multi-task - 10 emails, 5 Asana tasks, 12 texts - I could only think and process the one thing in front of me at that time. In many spiritual and philosophical texts, the gurus of the centuries aspire for one thing: living in the present moment.
And that I was! I was fully immersed in everything Burning Man had to offer - not more, and not less.
Lesson #2: Relationships Deepen As We Give Them More Attention
Relating to Lesson #1, what I found was that because I was living in the present moment, I also was able to deepen my relationships with others around me, particularly with Laura.
When I had no other worries, distractions, and context switching taking my mind’s attention, I could be with her - really with her. Not in a distant headspace, but actively tuned in to her beingness. The result was a level of connection that I have never felt before in my life. I’m leaving there with a love for her greater than any before.
I see her in different (positive) ways. I understand her more (and I think she would say the same in the reverse). None of this would have been possible without the distraction-free environment that was created by being in the middle of the desert, and I can only hope we can integrate at least some of that as we come back home to the Netherlands!
Lesson #3: Try New Things - It’s Fun!
Burning Man is known for many things, and the spectrum is wide on what you can experience. Consider it a “choose your own adventure” kind of thing. Within that spectrum, there are many things that make me, a Nebraska-born boy, uncomfortable with.
One of those things: being nude around others!
Now that I live in the Netherlands, and have many close friends in Europe, I’ve come to notice that Europeans are simply more comfortable “letting it all hang”. My experience in the US is that we cover our eyes and do everything in our power to hide an inch of our skin from others.
And so, this year I committed to joining in on the nudity at Burning Man by hopping in one of the art cars with Laura - a mobile sauna. It’s a two-story car that drives around on the playa, fully equipped with a ~15 person (naked) sauna, a top deck to dance, a shower, and DJ booth. You undress outside, hop in the sauna for a bit, and then dry off in the desert dryness - butt naked, dancing to the tune of the DJ and beautiful stars above.
Magical… and, FUN!
Lesson #4: We Don’t Need As Much As We Think
One of Burning Man’s 10 Principles is ‘Radical Self-reliance’, meaning: you have to survive on your own! For those of you who don’t know Burning Man in this context, it is an ~8 day event in the driest region in the continental US and you are required to bring all your own food, water, and supplies. The only thing provided by the organization are porta potties (which were super clean this year - great job BM crews!).
With such a requirement, you have to pack strategically. You can’t bring everything that you would bring on a normal vacation. And you definitely can’t shower (if you have an RV you can sparingly shower; this year we used a tent only).
Coming out of the desert every year, having not showered for 8 days, is such a fresh feeling. Sure, we wiped down with baby wipes, but the idea that we shower with gallons of water every day in normal life begs the question: do we need to?
The eight days also restrained us to: one pan, one set of silverware, one plate, no dishwasher (duh!), air mattress, no washing of clothes, pee jug for when we didn’t want to walk to the porta potties :), no A/C, and so much more… or shall I say less?
I suppose one could argue that these things feel refreshing because we get used to the luxuries we have for the other 357 days of the year. However, for me, I think there’s something deeper here. Whenever I’m in my tropical environments (like my post above), I feel the most free.
One of the reasons for that is similar to Burning Man: my entire life’s possessions are confined to a carry-on suitcase and a laptop (for work). Furthermore, because a beach is just steps away, I usually wear a single pair of my swimsuit and my “shower” each day is no more than going in the sea and getting nature’s washing.
As Laura and I leave for a month-long trip to Bali in a month, I’m hopeful to continue testing this idea of materialism and, maybe, showering 😂.
Coming Home
Normal life sucks us back in, there’s no doubt about that. As I write this, I had a long day of work yesterday where I quite literally couldn’t remember what I even did - it was just one of those ‘blurring together’ kind of days.
What I’m grateful for is the taste of resetting the rhythm of day to day life, serving as a reminder that it exists at any moment in time if I seek it out. Laura and I already have a fun, deeply-connecting, weekend planned ahead of us - no phones, just us.
Until next year, playa ☀️
