Why I Deliberately Don’t Bike or Take Public Transit
And Other Reflections from a Term in Ottawa
David A. DeVries
Since I have at least the environmentalists reading, I should probably explain myself. I love both biking and public transit, and dislike traffic jams full of idling automobiles. Therefore, if I’m deliberately not taking a bike, public transit, nor an automobile, that leaves me with only the most natural form of transportation: walking. That is what a term in Ottawa taught me. It taught me to walk. Not out of necessity, but rather out of choice. I chose to walk; I chose to slow my pace.
The thought first struck me one Sunday morning at the end of September. I was biking to church, whizzing along at quite a clip. I had biked to work and everywhere else at this point, rain or shine, and so I was quite used to it. No longer was I taking in the sights and sounds around me as I once did during my first bike ride in Ottawa, but rather it was all about the destination and getting there as fast as possible. And so, as I sped along, the trees, rocks, and flowers along the path became a blur, nothing but the distant apartment buildings remaining steady. I realized what a shame this was and made a choice. If I could walk to a destination in half-an-hour, I would walk. If the destination was more far flung, then biking it was. And I’ve stuck to it. Sure, I need to wake-up a little bit earlier and plan my time a little bit better, but the results have been extraordinary. The world is no longer whizzing by, for when you walk, nothing, neither close nor far, is blurred. All is crisp and ready to be marvelled at. I admired all that was around me: from the natural world on a calm morning, to the deserted urban landscape on a Sunday night. These walks were high-octane fuel for my mind, and so, just as my surroundings became sharp and focussed, my thoughts followed suit. By slowing my pace, I had made the time to think, to rethink, and to ponder long and hard. It was also in these times of deliberate slowness that I could see and hear God around me, and within me. No longer were the quiet whispers of God being drowned out by the worries, busyness, and stresses in my life, but were finally distinguishable from the noise. A simple choice to dismount was all it took to add something so needed and invaluable to my life.
I challenge you to do the same in wherever you find yourself next term. Whether at school or on co-op, find some way to make your life less blurry by deliberately slowing your pace. Walk, sit, and observe the world around you. Take a moment to look somewhere else than yourself and your busy life, and you’ll find that then you’ll truly find who and what you are. This is no easy task, especially amidst the busy schedules we all inevitably end up with. But to me, that is a cop-out. Be honest with yourself. Is life really too busy to not take the time to slow down? Is there not a spare ten minutes in your day? Perhaps you need to learn to park your bike, so to speak, organize your time just a little bit better, and walk.
Well, that was deep and heavy, but I also learned some more tangible lessons while in Ottawa. I’ll present what else I learned in way of offered advice to those of you going on co-op terms this Winter, some of you for your first time.
1) How to Ace Your Co-op Evaluation: Many students going on co-op worry about failing a work term or getting a poor rating. Here’s my take: Friends don’t give friends bad co-op evaluations. Therefore, if you’re friends with your co-workers and manager, you’re bound to get a good rating. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be hard working or looking for opportunities take initiative, but getting to know your co-workers makes a co-op term better on almost every level.
2) Do Something Besides Work: This one is especially for those living at home while on a workterm. Work is only 9 to 5, my friends, which leaves plenty of time to get some awesome done. Try something new. Volunteer. Get out there. Take on a side project. Fight a dragon. Read good books.
3) Dresscodes: Disappointed that your work has a dress code that isn’t jeans and t-shirt? In that case, turn your frown upside-down! Coming off a term where I was in slacks and a collar every day, I loved it! There’s just something about being in a meeting room where everyone is dressed professionally that makes life epic.
4) Try, however hard it is, to get something out of PD: I know this is the most ridiculous (and hypocritical thing) you’ve ever heard, but try it. This past term I took PD7, and there were actually some moments were I learned something and looked at situations in a new way. There weren’t many moments like this, but there were some.
5) Come Back and Visit: For many of you, you kind of are a huge fan of Grebel and the friends you know there. Well then why wouldn’t you visit? Come on back for a weekend. Catch up, have fun, and get barely enough sleep before the work week begins. It’ll be worth every second.
6) That Being Said…SLEEP: Some of you don’t get enough sleep. Correction. Most of you don’t get enough sleep. I am one of the worst culprits of this, as some of you know. My previous co-op term featured me drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day to just barely stay awake. What a downright horrible idea. So this term, I decided to sleep more and go caffeine free. And here I am, having gotten 7-8 hours of glorious rest every night, and completely caffeine free. Work days are so much more enjoyable when you’re alert. Being rested also leads to you to be more engaged in your work, which makes the days fly by.
7) Go for it: Often on your first co-op term (especially your first day), you feel like a Timbits soccer player on the starting line of the Netherlands KVM squad. Not to fear, you’ll adjust soon enough. Ask questions when needed, but really try to learn things by yourself, even if it’s tough. You’ll be surprised at how fast and efficient you get at self-learning over your co-op term. If you get assigned a task that you think is impossible, go for it! You never know if something is impossible until you try it infinite times, so at least give one go. More often than nought, if you just go for it, you’ll end up conquering your impossible task, or at least seriously wound it.
There you have it, though I encourage you to take all this advice with a grain of salt. Your experience may be completely different, and you may disagree with me on some or all of these points. In either case, the one piece of advice I can give you that will not be wrong is this: go out there and have a ball. You won’t regret it.
Well that’s it for me. For those going on co-op: Rock it! For those remaining at school: Winter is coming. And so am I. I can hardly wait.
David DeVries
And Other Reflections from a Term in Ottawa
David A. DeVries
Since I have at least the environmentalists reading, I should probably explain myself. I love both biking and public transit, and dislike traffic jams full of idling automobiles. Therefore, if I’m deliberately not taking a bike, public transit, nor an automobile, that leaves me with only the most natural form of transportation: walking. That is what a term in Ottawa taught me. It taught me to walk. Not out of necessity, but rather out of choice. I chose to walk; I chose to slow my pace.
The thought first struck me one Sunday morning at the end of September. I was biking to church, whizzing along at quite a clip. I had biked to work and everywhere else at this point, rain or shine, and so I was quite used to it. No longer was I taking in the sights and sounds around me as I once did during my first bike ride in Ottawa, but rather it was all about the destination and getting there as fast as possible. And so, as I sped along, the trees, rocks, and flowers along the path became a blur, nothing but the distant apartment buildings remaining steady. I realized what a shame this was and made a choice. If I could walk to a destination in half-an-hour, I would walk. If the destination was more far flung, then biking it was. And I’ve stuck to it. Sure, I need to wake-up a little bit earlier and plan my time a little bit better, but the results have been extraordinary. The world is no longer whizzing by, for when you walk, nothing, neither close nor far, is blurred. All is crisp and ready to be marvelled at. I admired all that was around me: from the natural world on a calm morning, to the deserted urban landscape on a Sunday night. These walks were high-octane fuel for my mind, and so, just as my surroundings became sharp and focussed, my thoughts followed suit. By slowing my pace, I had made the time to think, to rethink, and to ponder long and hard. It was also in these times of deliberate slowness that I could see and hear God around me, and within me. No longer were the quiet whispers of God being drowned out by the worries, busyness, and stresses in my life, but were finally distinguishable from the noise. A simple choice to dismount was all it took to add something so needed and invaluable to my life.
I challenge you to do the same in wherever you find yourself next term. Whether at school or on co-op, find some way to make your life less blurry by deliberately slowing your pace. Walk, sit, and observe the world around you. Take a moment to look somewhere else than yourself and your busy life, and you’ll find that then you’ll truly find who and what you are. This is no easy task, especially amidst the busy schedules we all inevitably end up with. But to me, that is a cop-out. Be honest with yourself. Is life really too busy to not take the time to slow down? Is there not a spare ten minutes in your day? Perhaps you need to learn to park your bike, so to speak, organize your time just a little bit better, and walk.
Well, that was deep and heavy, but I also learned some more tangible lessons while in Ottawa. I’ll present what else I learned in way of offered advice to those of you going on co-op terms this Winter, some of you for your first time.
1) How to Ace Your Co-op Evaluation: Many students going on co-op worry about failing a work term or getting a poor rating. Here’s my take: Friends don’t give friends bad co-op evaluations. Therefore, if you’re friends with your co-workers and manager, you’re bound to get a good rating. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be hard working or looking for opportunities take initiative, but getting to know your co-workers makes a co-op term better on almost every level.
2) Do Something Besides Work: This one is especially for those living at home while on a workterm. Work is only 9 to 5, my friends, which leaves plenty of time to get some awesome done. Try something new. Volunteer. Get out there. Take on a side project. Fight a dragon. Read good books.
3) Dresscodes: Disappointed that your work has a dress code that isn’t jeans and t-shirt? In that case, turn your frown upside-down! Coming off a term where I was in slacks and a collar every day, I loved it! There’s just something about being in a meeting room where everyone is dressed professionally that makes life epic.
4) Try, however hard it is, to get something out of PD: I know this is the most ridiculous (and hypocritical thing) you’ve ever heard, but try it. This past term I took PD7, and there were actually some moments were I learned something and looked at situations in a new way. There weren’t many moments like this, but there were some.
5) Come Back and Visit: For many of you, you kind of are a huge fan of Grebel and the friends you know there. Well then why wouldn’t you visit? Come on back for a weekend. Catch up, have fun, and get barely enough sleep before the work week begins. It’ll be worth every second.
6) That Being Said…SLEEP: Some of you don’t get enough sleep. Correction. Most of you don’t get enough sleep. I am one of the worst culprits of this, as some of you know. My previous co-op term featured me drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day to just barely stay awake. What a downright horrible idea. So this term, I decided to sleep more and go caffeine free. And here I am, having gotten 7-8 hours of glorious rest every night, and completely caffeine free. Work days are so much more enjoyable when you’re alert. Being rested also leads to you to be more engaged in your work, which makes the days fly by.
7) Go for it: Often on your first co-op term (especially your first day), you feel like a Timbits soccer player on the starting line of the Netherlands KVM squad. Not to fear, you’ll adjust soon enough. Ask questions when needed, but really try to learn things by yourself, even if it’s tough. You’ll be surprised at how fast and efficient you get at self-learning over your co-op term. If you get assigned a task that you think is impossible, go for it! You never know if something is impossible until you try it infinite times, so at least give one go. More often than nought, if you just go for it, you’ll end up conquering your impossible task, or at least seriously wound it.
There you have it, though I encourage you to take all this advice with a grain of salt. Your experience may be completely different, and you may disagree with me on some or all of these points. In either case, the one piece of advice I can give you that will not be wrong is this: go out there and have a ball. You won’t regret it.
Well that’s it for me. For those going on co-op: Rock it! For those remaining at school: Winter is coming. And so am I. I can hardly wait.
David DeVries