Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad

Dirie refuses to wear a watch, even though she sometimes is late to or entirely misses shoots or meetings as a model in London, Milan, Paris, and New York. For Dirie, watches symbolize the fact that in the Western world, “everyone is bankrupt of time” (223). She believes that the incessant demands on people’s time through meetings, social plans, and work infringe on one’s peace and well-being.

She contrasts the rushed Western way of life with her childhood in Somalia, where people decided in the morning what needed to be done and completed tasks without adherence to strict schedules. She writes, “We lived by the seasons and the sun, planning our moves around our need for rain, planning our day around the span of daylight available” (25). She believes that this simpler and quieter pace—which places “emphasis on living in the present” (24)—leads to a more contented and less stress-filled life. Therefore, she tries to continue living her life at the pace she learned in her childhood in Africa, even though it causes complications for her career and her social life in the Western World.