On Instagram, Dubai looks like a dream sequence: golden-hour yacht parties, infinity pools, skyscrapers glittering like they have been polished for a movie set. Everyone is sipping matcha on balconies with skyline views.

But when you actually live here, you discover something else. Dubai isn’t a fairytale. It is a machine. Never sleeping, competitive, unforgiving. It doesn’t give you rest. It makes you chase harder, push faster, and reinvent yourself daily.

And that isn't to say the city is “bad.” It is just demanding. You can’t coast here. To stay in the game — not even to win it — you have to keep getting better.

I have never seen so many burnt-out people as I have in Dubai. Walk into any café or coworking space at 8 am and you will see it: bloodshot eyes, triple espressos, conversations powered entirely by adrenaline and fear of missing out.

And the numbers prove it isn't just my impression:

Dubai doesn’t just encourage work. It glorifies it. It doesn’t ask for balance. It asks for performance.

For me, settling in Dubai was like starting over. A clean slate. Sounds poetic, but in reality it was terrifying. To build a new home. To launch a new media brand from scratch. To prove myself in a city that doesn’t wait for you to catch your breath.

Every article, every event, every podcast felt like another line drawn in the sand: this is who I am here. But it also felt like another test I could fail. I have spent days feeling like I was winning — followed by nights thinking: what if I mess this all up?

That is the paradox of Dubai. It gives you opportunities. It forces you to grow. But it also plants that fear in your chest: that one mistake could erase everything you have built.

Dubai is brilliant because it accelerates your progress. It pushes you to be sharper, faster, smarter. You meet people who inspire you, compete with you, and drag you to the next level.

But the cost is real: stress, burnout, fear of falling behind. The line between self-improvement and self-destruction is paper-thin here.

Which means the hardest part of living in Dubai isn’t the competition. It is learning how to step away. To pause. To not let the machine swallow you whole.

Here is what I have learned:

Because otherwise, you will break. Not from failure — but from the exhaustion of trying to stay perfect.

Dubai isn’t a fairytale. It isn't a city of dreams. It is a battlefield. But maybe that is the point.

It pushes you into a new version of yourself. It teaches you to grow faster, build stronger, live harder. And it also forces you to realise that sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is stop. To say no. To remember you are human.

The fairytale isn’t the skyline or the yachts. The fairytale is surviving Dubai — and staying yourself in the process.