A vast life

What does 27,000 acres look like to you?

I grew up in Sydney on a 750m2 block, so to me it looks like 145,656 childhood homes!

To Candy, our inspirational protagonist in this story, it was home.

Her family’s 27,000 acre sheep property in western New South Wales, was 1.5 hours drive on a dirt road to the nearest town and five kilometres from the neighbours. Growing up with a vast expanse around her, crafted a vast mind.

Candy is 67 but she is certainly not settling into her comfort zone... in fact it kind of sounds like she never has. Her love of exploration is as boundless as the Australian outback she grew up in. The thrill of venturing into uncharted territories, whether it's the great expanse of her sheep property or the hidden corners of the world, has been a driving force in her life.

If you want to read about an amazing woman who never stops challenging herself, then continue on dear reader…

A childhood unplugged

Growing up on a 27,000-acre sheep property in western New South Wales was an adventure in itself. Candy describes how “my early childhood was wonderfully uncomplicated and free of encumbrances compared to today’s world.”

Distance education was the norm, being on a remote sheep station. This meant she “could go out ‘working’ with my father as soon as I finished my day’s lessons. I usually finished by lunchtime and then spent every minute helping my father.”

To help with work on the farm, Candy learnt to muster on a horse and these riding skills took her far afield in the bush.

“My brother and I did a camping-horse riding adventure with an old packsaddle we found in the shed. We rode about 15 kms to a spot by the creek and set up camp – my brother put me in the front of the tent so the wild pigs would eat me first… brotherly love! I was 13. As you can tell – I survived!”

In the good years on the property, Candy and her siblings were schooled from home by a governess called Jenny, who she adored. But the drought hits hard and Candy says,

“It broke my heart when Mum came in one night to tell me that due to the drought, we couldn’t afford her wages and it was back to Mum teaching me school again. It was an early lesson on the sometimes unpleasant choices we have to make.”

Do what you can, with what you have

Self sufficiency is key to country living. Maybe your siblings are the only friends you have. Perhaps you don’t have lush, green grass to run around on. In Candy’s case, she made use of what she had.

“Before I went off to boarding school in Sydney there was no avenue for me to participate in sports. I remember watching a running race on TV and then getting Dad to mark out a 100 yard run. Every afternoon he would stand at the end with his handkerchief and a stop watch, drop the handkerchief and I would pound down the dusty dry track towards his smiling face and try and beat my own time from the day before. We would record the time in a book and the sheep looked on in amazement.”

How good is that. Racing against yourself on a dirt track!

This seems to be a theme throughout Candy’s life. She always runs her own race and lives life on her terms, avoiding the trap of comparison.

Now comparatively, farm life was tough. The years of drought were hard and Candy’s family worked with what they had. Candy reflects;

“growing up on the land teaches children early to deal with physical and emotional hardships, resilience, doing without (if we ran out of supplies before the mail truck arrived or we went to town) and ‘getting on with things’.”

But as we know, life is all about mindset. For some, challenge is what they stride towards, so to Candy, this upbringing was a treasure trove of experiences. Learning the ropes of life on the land developed the resilience to tackle whatever challenges came her way.

Big changes

At the age of 10, Candy left home for boarding school in Sydney and this marked a new chapter in her journey. The next seven years instilled in her the values of resilience, the importance of friendships, and a love for field hockey that would stay with her for years to come.

The shift from her idyllic countryside life to a bustling city was a significant change. She quickly discovered that life offered a myriad of new adventures, and she seized each one with the same enthusiasm that she had for life on the sheep property.

As a young twenty something year old, Candy purchased her first property. She tells me how “It was very difficult as a single woman to obtain a home loan in those days (early 1980's). The only reason I got one was the bank in my home country town had not fulfilled its quota of loans and the manager knew my dad! No bank in Sydney would lend me the money even though I had a deposit of half the purchase price!”

Here was I thinking it was hard to get a home loan in Sydney!

In the years that followed, Candy met her future husband in Sydney. After marrying at age 30, they honeymooned onboard a freighter ship working their passage to the US, supposedly for 2 years. Nine years, 2 children and a 40 ft container of belongings later they returned to Australia.

Candy continued to live fully, and importantly, she managed to instil that sense of adventure in her daughters, who she is extremely close with to this day.

The anti-ageing serum?

Ageing is a normal part of life, but is there a special potion which will reverse that?

No.

I believe the potion many are looking for, but never find, is hidden in the mind.

Some people think getting older means you should ‘slow down’. For Candy, it’s all about ramping up!

Many people narrow their world as they get older. They work hard for 40 years, retire and kick their feet up.

But aren’t the things that challenge us in life, the things that make us feel most alive?

Who am I to say, I am a 31 year old… but Candy is 67 and continues to live a vast life. Let’s list just some of her optional challenges:

• Joined Be Mobile Online in 2021 and has been performing our strength and cardio exercise programs ever since.
• Recently joined the Toastmasters public speaking organisation, with success in speech giving competitions. Gave a killer speech at her daughter’s wedding!
• Is putting together an electronic document of 58 letters from her father to his mother during his army service in New Guinea during WWII.
• Recently completed a 14 day trek in Nepal.
• Is working full time in HR for a large education organisation, continuing to grow in her role.
• Joined a women’s self defence class which has morphed into a weekly 2-hour Zen Do Kai Martial Arts class. Candy has just been awarded her Blue Belt!
  
  

Now you might think it’s easy for Candy to get up and get her workouts done. Not necessarily. It’s still hard for her, but she has built a robust exercise habit. Her self-advice - “Just Do It” (the Nike ad is my mantra). It’s what I tell myself when my alarm goes off in the am and I don’t’ want to get up and workout, or when I just don’t feel like it.”

Exercise is her “body, heart, soul and brain tonic – it makes me feel good physically and mentally.”

For Candy, “exercise is self-love. To be able to get the best out of life, we need our health. And to give ourselves the best chance to be healthy, we need to eat right and exercise. Particularly as I get older, exercise, and in particular resistance training, helps my body to feel as good as it possibly can. The older I become, the more passionate about exercise I get.”

So ask yourself, what do you want to be able to do with your life?

If you plan to slow everything down and take the easy path, maybe this story isn’t for you. Maybe Candy’s way of being is the opposite to what you want.

But if you are someone who has been umming and ahhhing about getting into something new like exercise, stop sitting on the fence. Be wise and heed advice from people that are living life to its fullest.

A most magnificent mindset

Your mindset defines your daily existence. How you think about yourself, defines your identity. Candy gained this wisdom at a young age.

“I remember asking my grandmother what it felt like to be 73. She replied ‘I feel just the same inside now as I did when I was your age’. I now know exactly what she meant.”

Today, at the age of 67, Candy's spirit remains as timeless as the landscape she grew up in.

With her love for exploration, she looks forward to every new day as another chance to venture into the unknown, whether that's discovering hidden pockets of Australia, hiking in Nepal, starting a self defence class or compiling her father’s letters from his time in the Second World War. Candy is a living testament to the power of staying active and embracing life's adventures.

I will finish with a question from Candy;

“Have you ever met a ‘young in years’ person who presents as old, both mentally and physically? What about an ‘old in years’ person brimming with life and vitality?”