Labour Weekend is about balance

I met Tom Mulholland last year. Big, ebullient, exuberant, a little bit overwhelming.

That week, the emergency doctor had given up the lease on his home in Bayswater, to buy a houseboat. He already had a kitted-out ambulance that he called ‘‘the ambulance at the top of the cliff’’, that he would take to some of New Zealand’s remotest communities. Pulling up at Four Squares and community halls, he offered a menu of health checks and lifestyle advice designed not to heal the sick, but to help the well avoid getting sick in the first place.

We’d been trying to find a time to meet for a while, but he was always busy, always away. Then he phoned me back: Meet me down at Westhaven Marina, he said. I’ve got a couple of hours in town, and I’ve found a catamaran to buy. Come out on the Waitemata Harbour for me while I put her through her paces, her sea trial.

So on this clear winter’s day, we motored slowly out of the marina and up the harbour – and he told me what he was about. How he was going to take this boat up and down the coast, meeting people too remote to reach by road. Checking their blood pressure and vital signs, and talking to them about how they can seize control of their lives.

Talk, of course, is notoriously cheap. And as I sat down to write this column this weekend, I was in a grumpy mood. It was a beautiful day that I’d planned to spend with my family, but had instead got swallowed up by the niggles of work.

And here I was, wanting to write about the legacy of Labour Weekend, the 40-hour week, and taking back some work-life balance!

So I went for a walk, and I gave Dr Tom a call. The 54-year-old was sitting on the deck of his houseboat. Just as he preached, he was living life with intent. If you have a dream, it’s up to you to make it happen.

Earlier this year he’d taken the catamaran up to Whangaroa Harbour for a month, and done clinics around the Far North. He’d even persuaded the marina manager to quit smoking. A few weeks ago, he met Fats, a Mongrel Mob member in Lower Hutt, and persuaded him to deal to his diabetes so he’ll be there for his 11 kids.

Next month, he’s planning to visit some Sikh temples in south Auckland. Then in December, he’s off to the Chatham Islands, where once upon a time he was the local GP.

What he reminded me was that instead of letting work and others’ demands control you, it’s important to seize control of your own life. Sure, that’s easier if you’ve got a job and somewhere to live and supportive friends and family. If you’re not living in a car in south Auckland. But most of us, even in tough times, can set ourselves goals to aim for.

Dr Tom will be writing a weekly column for the Sunday Star-Times, beginning today in our fresh, new relaunched Escape magazine. With other inspiring Kiwis like Lynda Hallinan, Bronwen King, Guy Williams, Alice Snedden and Grant Smithies, we’ll be offering you some great new ideas about how to live life to the full.

So that’s enough work for me this Labour Weekend. I’m powering down the computer.

And as you read this, we’ll be loading the kids into the car to take them up north for a couple of days. Carpe diem – seize the day!

That's enough work for me this Labour Weekend – I'm powering down the computer. Carpe diem. Seize the day.