5 things you'll LOVE about small town life
The second of two parts about what to know before moving to a small town
This post was written using a transcript from the above video. It’s been edited for clarity.
PAUL: Previously, we talked about things you will NOT like about living in a small town. Now we’re going to talk about things that you WILL like about living in a small town.
VAL: Sounds fun!
1. Less traffic in small towns
PAUL: When we lived in Edmonton, we accepted that going someplace meant spending 20 minutes in the car. That's not really the case in Gibsons, BC. Everything's pretty close and if I wasn't so lazy, I could walk most places. When I take the car, it just takes me two or three minutes to get there. As a portion of my day, the time I spend in a vehicle is far, FAR less in a small town.
VAL: There are no freeways here. The flip side of that is that we only have one highway which can get busy because it’s the only route. Especially when there's ferry traffic.
PAUL: I think that's pretty specific to the Sunshine Coast. I don’t think there are too many small towns that have to deal with a regularly scheduled influx of traffic.
VAL: Ferry traffic aside, I'm five minutes to everything in town. I like it.
2. The safety of a smaller town
VAL: It’s safe for kids to walk around because there's less traffic and there's not a big highway with cars travelling 130 kilometers an hour. And because Gibsons is smaller, there’s less gang violence than in a big city.
PAUL: I don’t think that every city is run ragged with gang violence. I would say that we have a different type of crime here on the Sunshine Coast. Larger centres have big city crime. Things things like violence and gangs and robberies. It’s not that we don't ever experience those things in a small town, but there’s a far lower instance of it. I'm much more worried about somebody stealing something out of my car than I am of a random shooting.
VAL: Gibsons is also a smaller community. You know your neighbours at least a little bit and you look out for each other’s property. Maybe safety on the Sunshine Coast is less about other people and more about wildlife. You could be walking up the driveway and there's a bear waddling toward you. On the Sunshine Coast, you need to be bear aware.
PAUL: It comes down to what type of safety you’re prepared to accept. You might be worried about a bunch of different threats in a city, but you're probably never concerned about stumbling onto a black bear as you're walking through downtown Calgary. Whereas here in Gibsons, or whatever small town you call home, interactions with wildlife might be a regular occurrence.
3. Strong sense of community
VAL: In a small town, it feels like we're all in it together and we all rally together.
PAUL: In Gibsons, it feels like we’re all paddling towards a common destination. I find that's not always the case in a big city. In a small town, it feels like we’re all pulling towards the same goals with everybody in the community, more or less.
VAL: Here in a smaller community, businesses support each other. They’ll help each other out. That sense of togetherness trickles down to the whole community.
PAUL: We really have to rely on each other in a small town. In a bigger city, you take for granted that there's going to be somebody in that mass of people that can help you or serve you or provide you a service. In a small town, that’s not always the case. Smaller communities have a smaller pool to draw from. We really rely on each other and you end up being extremely appreciative when somebody comes through for you. It makes you want to return that favour for when the community needs something from you.
4. A lack of busy-ness
PAUL: It's less hectic in a small town. We don't have a long way to go to get to our next appointment. That means things are a little more laid back, a little more chill. Parking lots are smaller, you probably don't have to park waaaay in the back of one except at Christmas time. It's just a more relaxed pace of life.
VAL: When you do have an appointment, it usually goes pretty quickly. You can be in and out before you know it.
5. Proximity to nature
PAUL: The Sunshine Coast is really spoiled with this one. Not every town has the abundance of natural beauty that we have, but I do think small towns - in a geographic sense - are closer to nature. You're not surrounded by miles of city, but you’re surrounded by something. Small towns are surrounded by the outdoors.
PAUL: Here in Gibsons, we're really lucky that we're surrounded by oceans and mountains and lakes and forests. But even when we were living in small towns on the prairies, we were surrounded by lakes and fields and open spaces. Living in a small town makes it easier to appreciate the outdoors in that way. You just go outside and enjoy nature without having to go to a park or a specific destination.
PAUL: Something that I really liked about growing up in a small town, but I forgot about once I moved to the city, but then rediscovered when we moved here, was going outside on a clear night. I can go outside and look up and see sky and stars. Living in a city, I would have needed to leave the city to see that kind of thing. It’s a special thing to go into the yard and look up and see something really pretty above you.
VAL: All right. So those are the top five things that you will probably like about living in a small town. Leave a note in the comments about something you like about your small town.
This post was written using a transcript from the above video. It’s been edited for clarity.
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We're Val and Paul and we're a married couple who live on BC's Sunshine Coast! We moved from Alberta to Gibsons in 2014 and love our life on Canada's West Coast! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and email newsletter and you'll learn what it's like to live in the most beautiful place in Canada.
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