Personal Narrative: Sugar Loaf Mountain

Do you ever experience daily pressures that don’t seem to go away such as stress, anxiety, or even just nervousness from your job, school, or just life in general? If so you’re not alone it was recorded in 2011 that 22.7% of Canadians 15 and older reported that most days where “quit a bit or even extremely stressful” from daily life activates (Statcan.gc.ca, 2013). I would fit that category most days myself being a university student and a Part time worker with due dates and what seems like never ending bills. I like to use visual escape to relieve my day to day pressures, by visiting many areas in Nanaimo that make me feel more relaxed and ready for the next day. Areas such as Sugar Loaf Mountain, Pipers Lagoon, and Swy-a-lana lagoon offer

This is one of the most amazing features that Sugar Loaf Mountain has to offer everyone in Nanaimo. Sugar Loaf not only offers a great visual escape but it also offers some amazing gusts of fresh air that come straight up from the Departure Bay water front. The mixture of the view and the fresh ocean air helps relieve headaches I have as well a lot of my stress from both work and school. The pure natural beauty just completely takes your mind off of everything other than what’s in front of you. It’s this same type of natural beauty that Piper Lagoon has to offer, however it isn’t a view of the city or sunset that makes it so

Swy-a-Lana Lagoon is a small manmade water way that’s connected to the ocean in high tides. There is a walk way that goes around the entire area that has fountains that flow over into the water making the peaceful sounds of water continually flowing (Nanaimoinformation.com, 2015). There are great little coffee shops and restaurants located a short walk from the lagoon that offer amazing options. When you combine all these factors together they make what I would say could be the best form of visual escape. Just imagine sitting by the water with a delicious cup of coffee or tea watching the water flow out of the fountains and people walking by enjoying there lives as much as you are at the moment. This is where on stressful days ill go, sit and enjoy my coffee and just let all my worries fade away while I think about how to organize and accomplish everything in life.

If you ever need to just get away for a few hours and think, any of these three locations throughout Nanaimo will definitely be the places to go. They offer a type of relaxation like that is hard to find, from the fresh air of the ocean to the coffee by the water. If you haven’t yet visited one or all three of these great locations, I highly recommend giving them a chance because to me they are what makes visual escape an effective form of