Part One: Gerrie, retired in Herne Bay.
If you’ve heard of the Probus Club, you’ll know it’s a local association of retired people who get together on a regular basis to meet up with others of similar interests and to make new friends.
Probus has national and international affiliations, but the buzz in Auckland is definitely local. Monthly speakers are selected to talk about topics we want to know more about and social opportunities for lunches and outings bring us together to enjoy each other’s company, ideas and life hacks.
Yes – life hacks! It’s fair to say that this group of retirees were all once in the vanguard - the productive, dynamic edge of society. Ask a few questions and you soon find out that their varied professional backgrounds and wide range of personal life experiences represents a treasure trove of wisdom. Not to put too fine a point on it, these are our tribal elders and there’s a great deal of insight to be gleaned. Hence the idea for this series of short sketches about their life wisdom.
For our first introduction, meet Gerrie, who lives in Herne Bay. Before settling in New Zealand, she and her family lived in the UK, France and Singapore. She and her husband travelled around the world by yacht with their family of three young children, visiting many places over several years.
When they saw New Zealand, they decided that this would be their forever home. Summarised like that, it seems easy enough, but not so. This was an intrepid life journey that took courage, planning, vision, risk management and plain hard work. When they decided to settle in New Zealand, they faced all the hurdles that immigrants everywhere face: uprooting their lives; discovering unexpected barriers; the complexities of official applications and endless bureaucracy; winding up an old life; selling assets to make it happen; imagining an unknown future and keeping their children buoyant and positive through it all.
I asked Gerrie about how she faced all these challenges in her life and her responses resonated with the positivity of an adventurer and the down-to-earth rationality of someone who knows how to pick themselves up from a fall.
“You have to keep your focus on where you are going, despite the wind. And most of all you have to accept that if plans fail, then you have to start all over again. You have to be at peace with that possibility.”
Gerri believes that her philosophy is replicable in everyone’s lives. She points out that most people have to build something up from nothing, whether it’s a business, a career, or a creative project.
“You must trust your body and mind and have belief in your partner too. It’s only possible if you are prepared to take the knocks, to get up again and keep focused on your objective.”
To use a nautical phrase, you may need to ‘come about’ many times, but you must always keep on target for your destination.
Gerrie, like so many in the Probus Club is part of our senior community with a brave past and significant life experience and wisdom at solving life’s problems.
Look out for more life hacks from Probus ‘tribal elders’ in future Ponsonby News magazines.
We’d love to introduce you to the club if you think you might enjoy the opportunity of getting together with other like-minded retirees for new experiences and friendships.
You can hear wonderful guest speakers and stay active by participating in a range of activities. If you would like more information about joining please contact Rosie Armstrong on T:09 486 5181,