My Account
A few days before I began to write this column the makeup of our new government was announced. I think you would probably agree that the nation as a whole gasped with the realisation that a very real change in our affairs would soon begin to be seen and felt. From the reaction of my friends I know that many New Zealanders welcomed the change and others definitely did not, fearing it would mean trouble ahead. I am not going to talk about politics here but about change itself.
All of us experience change from time to time, it is the one constant in our lives. Things will not always stay the same no matter how much we would like them too although on the other hand often we long for a change in our circumstances. Because change is a constant in our lives we usually don’t take much notice of the little or the expected changes but it’s when we are caught off-guard that we can get thrown and sometimes quite badly. The trick is to know that it is just one of the millions of changes that are going to happen in our lives and, good or not so good, do what we can to just roll with it. We will always have two choices – we can despair that a change has come or we can look with excitement at the new possibilities that the change presents. I think emotional changes are probably the hardest to adjust to. When a loved one dies, or we are rejected by someone we love and feel our heart is broken, acceptance is not always easy. We may not have the strength, understanding or forgiveness to be objective. In cases like this, we need to process our feelings, perhaps with family or friends, and this can take some time. Sometimes the help of a therapist or counsellor is necessary to help the process. I remember when as a young mother of four children my first husband died and it took me the whole of that first year without him, getting past each significant date, before hope for the future really began to rise but rise it did.
Technological change in our fast moving society can be quite difficult for us older people to cope with. Sometimes I think that as soon as I have learnt all the details of a new cell phone and the many apps that can be so helpful, or a new computer programme I want to use, it’s probably out of date. I have realised though that learning to deal with these changes that are going on all around me is a great survival tool that keeps me in tune with my interests and younger family members and is really enjoyable. I read that all these mind extending activities keep our brains active and I surely want to keep my brain working well as long as my body lasts. Each one of us needs to take responsibility for how we deal with changes. It may not be easy but it is vital for our ability to cope with life. It has been said, “The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realise that you control your own emotional wellbeing.”
I am going to close on a different note but it is about change or rather possible change. I am the President of the Hibiscus Coast Grey Power Association and lead a committee or four other members. Two of us are filling multiple roles and we are desperately short of the number of committee members we need to really serve this area and although we have asked for people willing to go on the committee for over a year we have not been able to find anyone. If we are unable to recruit more members we will need to consider next year how we are going to proceed. Can you help? Contact via email address above.
