Ottawa has a way of quietly rewriting the stories we tell about ourselves. For Jumol Royes, moving to the capital in midlife to pursue school felt like a declaration of independence — proof, finally, that he didn't need anyone. What Ottawa gave him instead was a mirror.
Leaving to Prove a Point
Royes packed up his life and landed in Ottawa with a clear mission: stand on his own two feet. No safety net, no community propping him up. He wanted to know he could do it alone. It's a feeling many people who relocate to Ottawa can recognize — the city draws students, career-changers, and restarters from across the country, all quietly auditing their own resilience.
And on the surface, it worked. He navigated the city, built routines, got through the coursework. Ottawa, with its transit headaches and harsh winters and pockets of unexpected warmth, became familiar. He found his footing.
What Independence Actually Looks Like
But somewhere between the late-night study sessions and the long walks along the Rideau Canal, something else became clear. The independence he'd been performing in Ottawa kept bumping up against the reality of how much he'd leaned on the people back home — not financially, but in every quieter way. The phone calls. The advice he hadn't asked for but always used. The context that only the people who knew him longest could provide.
Ottawa gave him space and distance. What it couldn't give him was a substitute for that accumulated knowing.
It's a tension the city knows well. Ottawa is full of people who moved here to become a new version of themselves — drawn by government jobs, university programs, a fresh start. Some stay. Many eventually reckon with the weight of what they left.
The Braver Choice
Royes eventually went back. And here's the part that doesn't make the motivational posters: going home was harder than leaving had been. Leaving felt like momentum. Returning felt like admission — even though it wasn't. It was clarity.
There's a specific kind of courage in deciding that independence isn't about proving you need nobody. It's about knowing who you actually need, and choosing to be near them anyway. Ottawa had handed him that lesson by being, despite its many charms, a place where he understood what was missing.
A Story Ottawa Keeps Telling
Royes' story isn't unique to him — Ottawa generates it regularly. Every year the city fills up with people testing new versions of themselves. Some build permanent roots here. Others find that the testing itself was the point, and that the results point somewhere else.
What stays with you is the honesty it takes to acknowledge that. Moving away to prove independence is easy to celebrate. Moving back — owning that home and community aren't a retreat but a choice — takes something harder.
Ottawa, in its way, taught him that. And sometimes the most valuable thing a city can do is show you clearly where you belong.
Source: CBC Ottawa. Read the original first-person essay.
