What walking home taught me – living in Vancouver.
This is my ninth-month living since I moved to Vancouver, and I have never walked that much in my entire life. Well, here is the proof.
At first, I was in the mood for using AirPods, listening to music and audiobooks, and pretending to be productive while walking. Until I realized I did it because I do not know how to be with my thoughts. My generation does not know “the peace of mind skill”; we are overstimulated. We have not conquered the art of staying quiet, letting your mind be* and acknowledging our surroundings. I noticed the second my battery died; I did not know what to do with silence.
One day I decided to carry a notebook to write whatever popped out in my head to have it on paper instead of using my phone on my daily commute. And since then, I have written a lot of random thoughts I have had on my walk home every day. Here are some of them:
1.- Do not fart in the street with your Airpods on; you might not hear it, but your neighbour will. (just a thought, not an experience).
2.- Assumptions discriminate but are the security tool I use to make decisions while walking on the street.
3.- "Spread Hummus not hate" – Poetic action of Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.
4.- Silence is a lost ability my generation is lacking to get the jump in their well-being everyone is in search of. It is not your vegan, gluten-free, spinning classes; get to know more people kind of activity that is missing. You are already doing it. Silence is the unconquered ability.
Photo taken in my daily commute back home. July 27, 2022.
5.- "Work hard, study hard and do not complain. If complaint, move"—Lisa (Chinese hairdresser I met at the beginning of the year).
6.- Your neighbour in the waiting line to get into the Skytrain is feeling seen by you too. It is not only you.
7.- (After seeing an arrest in our current grocery store) There is another type of punishment. Social punishment: get noticed and seen for your bad behaviour.
8.- Everyone needs to get a job in customer service to graduate college. It is a masterclass in social skills. "Customer service teaches you to kill with kindness" – Claudia Luna, 2022. (A friend from Vancouver. Claudia is living proof of conquering life with kindness).
9.- Learn everyone's name. It creates a bond with someone if you take the time to remember their name. In Vancouver, pronunciation is key; pronunciation shows care and recognition to that person.
10.- The Lion King movie was inspired by the Vancouver moms who sit on the seawall benches with their newborns to expose them to the 15-minute sunlight phase of the day.
11.- “Winter is coming” is not a Game of Thrones phrase. It is a phrase you start saying when living in Canada.
Photo taken in Sunset beach, waiting for the fireworks contest to begin. July, 30, 2022.
*Meaning of BE: "to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted —used only in infinitive form" (Meriam Webster, 2022, para. 2C).
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Be definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/be
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