Embracing Insignificance: A Death Valley Meditation

A Van, a Desert, and the Freedom to Feel Small

Death Valley. January 2025.

On January 1st, my partner and I set out on our first camper van road trip together—a ten-day journey that included a brief stop in Death Valley. In truth, I wasn’t totally keen on stopping there. For someone who tenses up and shudders every time the phone buzzes, I was surprisingly nervous about being completely disconnected from the rest of the outside world. It turns out I don’t always know what’s good for me and that was the exact medicine I needed to recharge.

Once you get over the desolation and stillness of Death Valley, the remote landscape gives you a sense of quietude, pacifying your loudest, most intrusive thoughts. It’s like anything can happen or nothing can happen at all, and everything will remain unchanged, the world unbothered by your silly little human experiences. There is comfort in being greeted once again with a reminder of your own insignificance.  The real definition of “quiet luxury”.