There are these sedentary people who stay in their town all their lives. Isabelle Cloutier is one of them. She never leaves her native North Shore except “backwards”, even on vacation. Exploring the outside world is not a priority. “What I’m looking for is an emotion, something that will make me grow from the inside,” she confides to Duty. Travel among those who never travel.
Whether we like it or not, leaving Sept-Îles is not easy. At least 10 hours’ drive separates the north-coastal capital from Montreal. This corner of the country wedged between a river which becomes sea and a forest which becomes tundra does not lack horizon, illustrates the young thirty-year-old. “The main thing, I think, is wonder. Then, gratitude for what we have. Try to remember that even if I’m not in a mega-house, that I don’t have material possessions to break everything, my home, I have made it comfortable. That’s what’s important to me. »
She often takes her official vacation in winter, to enjoy the warmth of her home in peace. In summer, there is no shortage of space to walk and relax.
Otherwise, trips along Route 138 which crisscrosses the coast offer her all the exoticism she could wish for. “It’s just quite exotic, not too much. That makes it comforting. For me, it’s more relaxing than having to plan everything, do my grocery shopping, buy things to go spend a weekend at the cottage. Then if I forget a certain matter… Ah! I don’t know. It doesn’t tempt me. »
Traveling within yourself
Isabelle Cloutier has nevertheless already set foot outside her region. She keeps some beautiful memories of the people she met on one of her rare outings in the city, in Toronto. On the other hand, she retains a somewhat empty memory of the landscape.
“On our way to Toronto, we went to see Niagara Falls. That’s when I realized that I didn’t like tourist places. Yes, it’s a big fall, but there are so many people that I’m not able to connect to the essence of the fall. I am not capable of experiencing the magnitude of the fall. I am distracted by the hubbub or all the noise around me. I much prefer to go see Manitou Falls on the North Shore! »
Montreal and Quebec were also trodden in his footsteps. She even lived in the capital for studies. Pressed by the need to return to live on the North Shore, she transformed her three-year baccalaureate into a one-year certificate. Again, an absence was felt during this pseudo-trip. “During the year I was in Quebec, I often went walking. I love walking. At first it seemed like something was missing. When I came back to Sept-Îles during a leave, at one point, I look at the sky and I light it up! This is what Quebec is missing! The stars ! There are little things like that. For me, I try to keep my childish eyes, and always marvel at these little things. »
Growing up so close to nature explains this deep attachment to Sept-Îles, she postulates. “Nature is something that is part of me. During the year I was in Quebec, I really missed not being able to walk to the quay. After a long week… just going for a walk, to the quay, seeing the sea… I really have a deep attachment to the sea.”
Strolling along beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, just a 10-minute drive from your home, remains the excursion that best suits this homebody. “I prefer to be closer to these things. »
On performance
There is also the stress of the holidays which bothers her. Even staying in a “camp”, as you find almost everywhere in the woods, involves an organization, a “performance”, which takes your breath away. “Indeed, I don’t want to add stress to myself during the holidays to say that I’m planning something. »
Her happiness, adds Isabelle, is above all the friends she finds. Otherwise, there are the books that she discovers. “It’s more human contact that interests me than seeing things. And that, human contact, I can have here. I am surrounded by exceptional people. »
Still, in this vast, easily accessible world, doesn’t she feel like she’s missing something? “I think it has to do with the capacity for imagination,” she replies. I don’t know, I would like, let’s admit, to go see Auschwitz to immerse myself in that place, that history. It could be interesting. At the same time, I consider that I am capable of imagining it a little. Just to see it, to see it, for me, it doesn’t interest me. There is the Internet. I can go get some photos. If I want, I can still imbibe in a certain way. No, I don’t necessarily feel like I’m missing out on anything. »
She finally quotes a sentence from Rick Rubin which sums up her vision: “We can silence our inner world to better perceive the outside, or silence the outside to be more attentive to what is happening within us. »
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.