Nia
“If I don’t like where I am, I get up and leave.”
She’s a dedicated explorer and fearless adventurer. To Nia, bumps in the road are just part of the journey. She believes life is worth living, and there is no one way to live it. Meet Nia. This is her story.
Nia, on an adventure (her happy place)
P: Please introduce yourself!
N: I am Nia and I live in the South Island, New Zealand. I have horses and dogs that I cherish, friends that I admire and have accomplished in themselves, a husband that matches my values, and a home I sort of own that allows me to do what I want to do.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
N: To define myself is hard. I guess I’m an average person, commitment phobic (got married at 40), freedom junkie (wriggling in the shoes of a mortgage) that really has had a bit of a random but awesome life so far.
I love my soul’s fearless thirst for adventure and am glad of my fiercely independent streak. It’s been a bit of a life theme and my adventures have ranged from getting on a plane and coming to New Zealand at 22, to riding race horses, to travelling to China and India, to ice climbing on glaciers, to tramping and mountaineering, to living on the South Island’s West Coast, to having explored most corners of New Zealand, to being self employed, to nearly being killed in a mine explosion.
I have always needed to be free so permanent jobs are hopeless. I got a degree and enjoyed being a contract accountant for years. Accountant is totally the wrong job for me but it provided some ready cash and freedom to come and go.
P: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
N: I have a passion for horses which is a good thing and a bad thing. I decided to buy this big Thoroughbred off the track that was a bit of a handful. I came off one day and broke a few bones in my back. I was working as an accountant in Rotorua at the time and lived on my own in a wee house in the mountains. I couldn’t walk for a couple of weeks, let alone drive or light the fire. I had to crash around my house in a wheelchair. Luckily I had a great ex boyfriend and a neighbour who helped me out.
I was off work for 6 weeks and when I did go back I found it painful to sit at a desk all day. I wasn’t allowed to ride so 5 months after the accident I decided to quit my job, sell the damn horse and go to university for a year. I was grateful to still be able to walk so I joined the Massey University Alpine Club - best thing I ever did! It re-ignited a love I’d had earlier for the outdoors and I started tramping, then ice climbing (pays to go out with the vice president), then mountaineering, then kayaking (not for me) but above all it opened my world. I went to places I never thought little me could go!
I did a beanie contract in Whanganui after finishing and then went travelling – home to Wales for a couple of months then to China. I met some awesome women who shared the same view that there is more to life, and when we returned home we broke free.
I stared working in conservation with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and got a job in Franz Josef - adventure central. A week after I got there I met my husband and we were out tramping in the most stunning mountains every weekend we could, I loved my job and work involved enough helicopter time for me to be blasé about it now, and I joined Search and Rescue which was great!
Life since then has been travelling the world some more, loving some real hard core adventures and meeting some legendary people.
The horse passion did return. I was asked to ride a horse for a lady when we lived in Hokitika, who became my best friend in the whole world, and still is. I do ride horses again now and am qualified as a therapist. I still go to the mountains, be it walking or on horseback with friends, but things are a bit different in Canterbury. I’m not sure this is our final resting place, and I feel there is another adventure just over the horizon.
But the best thing that happened to me was canning off that horse!
P: What advice would you give to your younger self?
N: You will be the person you want to be – don’t believe them or yourself......you are clever, intelligent and brave and you will be amazing. You will be more amazing than you will ever believe possible, and you will be loved more than you will ever believe. Ohh and when you think to buy property, do it - trust yourself - you will find a way to make it work and still be free.
P: What does being a woman mean to you?
N: My favourite tune as a teenager was Annie Lenox’s ‘Sisters are Doing it For Themselves’ and it was a driver. Regardless of gender I’ve just gone and done it anyway and no one has really stopped me doing what I want. The domestic violence was a pain (many boyfriends ago), the work place discrimination was too, and the constant reminders that I’m not capable of thinking (or driving!) are tiring but ignoring them is the only option. If I don’t like where I am, I get up and leave.
The insanity of menopause is a challenge that is making me look at ground zero but overall, being a woman just is. I could wax lyrical about femininity and when I’ve worked in entirely male environments I have appreciated the smell of a rose, or painted my nails. But above all we’re not special, we’re us, as worthy equal contributors to the greater good and we have no reason to not live exactly as we choose.