Time functions differently in the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, a chain of settlements that includes Sechelt, Gibsons, and Roberts Creek. Due to the Geographical Proximity Paradox, people of this area can straddle two temporal realities—coastal timelessness and city efficiency—just 40 minutes by ferry from Vancouver.

Time is divided into 15-minute calendar segments in Vancouver. It spreads like the tides in Sechelt. Without waitresses teasing the bill, talks continue into the evening at Pender Harbour's Lighthouse Pub. In Roberts Creek's Gumboot Garden, artists gauge their progress not by deadlines but by the seasons—a mural displayed at the summer solstice, a ceramic glaze developed throughout the winter.

This change in time is not coincidental. Commuters use the boat voyage as a spatial buffer where they can release urban urgency and as a ritual of decompression. Sunshine Coast residents experience 37% lower stress levels than their Vancouver counterparts, according to a 2022 SFU study, which attributes this to the area's "time-affluent" culture.

The pace of even development is slower. It took ten years for Gibsons' new mixed-use waterfront project to be approved—not because of red tape, but because more than 700 locals attended workshops to make sure it reflected their values.

The productivity of tech CEOs in the coves of Halfmoon Bay, meantime, has been linked to creative clarity rather than clock-punching, and they have traded stock tickers for tide charts.

In this case, purchasing real estate involves a commitment to allow time to pass rather than only a transaction. As one Sechelt resident quipped, "My smartwatch died of boredom. I now use the herons fishing during high tide to tell the time.