COROMIND ISSUE 18 JUN24 ONLINEVERSION - Flipbook - Page 25
M at t B ow de n
PROUD TO
BE LOCAL
P R O U D T O B E LO C A L — S P O N S O R E D B Y C F M —
I S O U R I N S P I R AT I O N A L F E AT U R E ,
H I G H LI G HTI N G H O M E- G ROWN CO RO MA N D E L
PE N I NSU LA FO LKS DOI NG WO N D E RFU L
T H I N G S O U T I N T H E W O R L D.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAMILY LINKS WITH
MERCURY BAY?
at horticulture and prioritising my
physical and mental health.
My mum, Anne, is one of the local
Whitianga mosaic artists who is pretty
involved in the local art scene. My
dad, Laurie, used to be the local auto
electrician for years here in town until
his old apprentice Dallas bought the
business off him. While my parents
moved to Whiti in the early 90s, my
granddad had bought a plot of land
out near Cooks Beach back in the 50s,
and his brother and sister-in-law, Dan
and Edith Hansen (my great uncle and
aunty), started Wilderland not long
after.
WHAT, ABOUT THE CULTURE WHERE
YOU ARE, DO YOU LIKE THE MOST?
WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?
I am back living in Cooks Beach on the
family bush block and have been here
for almost a year. I left Whiti in 2020 at
the start of the pandemic to be with my
partner in Mexico since NZ was closing
its borders, returning in mid-2023.
WHEN WERE YOU LIVING IN MERCURY
BAY AND WHICH SCHOOL DID YOU
ATTEND?
I spent my entire childhood in
Whitianga, and did 13 years of school
at MBAS.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING SINCE
SCHOOL?
Almost directly after school I went
travelling with a friend through the UK
and Western Europe for two months.
Once I came back, it was straight to uni
to study linguistics and language, with
a couple gap years thrown in for some
extra travel. When I was about 24, I
was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
and adjusting to that took quite a bit
of time out of my schedule for a while.
Once the studies were 昀椀nished, I moved
to Mexico, and now that I’m back I have
just been focusing on getting better
WEST
COAST
At least compared to Mexico, when I
came back home the biggest shock to
me was the safety aspect. I’d forgotten
that it’s pretty safe here, comparatively
at least, and it’s easy to take for granted
or to just not be aware of how good it
can be here. Obviously, there is crime
and danger everywhere in the world,
including NZ, so it always pays to be
careful.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
I’m proud that I went ‘full-send’ with
the girl that I loved and moved to her
home country. Even though it didn’t
work out, we made a pretty nice home
for ourselves and overcame quite a few
challenges in the process. I learned
Spanish, got my Mexican residency,
and had plenty of opportunities to grow
personally and professionally.
BIGGEST LIFE LESSON SO FAR?
The word YOLO is its own antonym. ‘You
only live once’ can mean live fast and
die young, party, do all the risky things,
and don’t worry about the future. But
‘you only live once’ can also mean the
opposite, as in you only have one life so
take care of yourself, take time to heal or
grow, and think about giving yourself a
better future because there isn’t a restart
button.
Both are useful, the trick is knowing
when to apply each one so you maximise
what you get out of life while reducing
the detrimental e昀昀ects of being alive.
Brought to you by
Ron Morgan
EAST
COAST
Coromind | 24