Moving to Ottawa in the middle of winter is a particular kind of welcome. The Rideau Canal freezes into the world’s longest skating rink, and the whole city seems to agree that cold is something you go toward, not away from.
I’d been running on a packed schedule for years. The first months here forced a slower rhythm — fewer people to see, longer walks, more time at the desk staring out at snow. I expected to feel restless. Instead my work got sharper.
Space turns out to be an input, not a luxury. Ideas that had been stuck for months untangled themselves on quiet afternoons. I’m trying to keep that habit even now that life has filled back in.
If you’re thinking about a move and worried it’ll cost you momentum — sometimes the pause is the momentum. Ottawa gave me that, with a frozen canal thrown in.