Morocco: The Land That Tried to Break Me

“When you’ve built your life on impossible comebacks, the universe sometimes bends to meet you halfway.” - Simon Clark

Morocco, 2025

The Sahara isn’t a place that forgives weakness.

It’s a land that strips you bare — body, mind, and soul — until all that’s left is truth.

In 2025, I drove my old Mitsubishi Delica from England to Morocco.

A twenty-year-old van held together by bolts, tape, and stubbornness.

More than transport, it became my test, and my teacher.

What Happened

Somewhere between the mountains and the desert, Morocco tried to break me.

I pushed the Delica across the High Atlas, through roads carved into cliffs,
valleys burnt by time, and cities pulsing with chaos.
And then, I hit the edge of the world. The Sahara.

Not the romantic one from postcards.
The real one, where the sun doesn’t shine, it scorches.
The air doesn’t warm you; it challenges you to survive.

Out there, I collapsed.
Heatstroke, exhaustion, silence.
No shade. No signal. No backup plan.
Just me, a van that wouldn’t start, and a mind ready to give up.

But somehow… I stood up.
And somehow… the engine roared back to life.
That moment wasn’t about luck. It was about mindset.

What the Desert Taught Me

Here’s what the desert taught me, lesson by lesson:

1. Pain is honest.

It doesn’t lie to you. It tells you what’s real, what matters, and what’s worth fighting for.

2. Comfort is the enemy of growth.

The hardest roads — literal and metaphorical — reveal your strength.

3. Mindset is fuel.

When your body gives up, your mind decides whether the story ends or continues.

4. The small wins keep you alive.

A drop of water. A breeze. A working engine. Gratitude isn’t cliché; it’s survival.

5. You can’t control the desert, or life.

You just learn to move with it, one stubborn step at a time.

Reflection

When I finally crossed back into England, I cried.

Not because it was over, but because we made it.

The van they said wouldn’t last.

The body they said would never walk again.

We crossed oceans of stone and came home standing.

The Sahara reminded me:

You don’t need to be unbreakable.

You just need to refuse to stay broken.

Your Desert-Tested Mindset Checklist

When life feels like a desert — endless, harsh, unrelenting — try this:

• Pause before you panic. Breathe. You’ve survived worse than this.

• Focus on one problem at a time. Big battles are won in small moves.

• Fuel your body. Hydrate, eat, rest. Even warriors need maintenance.

• Talk to yourself like a teammate, not an enemy.

• Find one reason to keep moving. That’s all you need for the next step.

If I could take a broken body and a broken van into a land that tried to break us both, and come back stronger, so can you.