A good cup of English Breakfast tea brings everyone together. It’s warming, cosy and offers an immediate excuse to take a breath in the chaos of our busy lives. I sat down with Heather over a virtual cuppa, with a mere 3300kms between us, to learn about her lifestyle and set of ‘non-negotiables’ that help her live a purpose-driven and fulfilling life rurally.

If there were a venn diagram detailing the crossover between a freshly baked scone with jam and cream and the community connectedness of Thoona, Heather in the CWA is sitting squarely in the middle. From the exterior, the humble lemonade scone represents the heart of the Country Women’s Association, but as Heather fiercely defends, there is so much more than self raising flour, thickened cream and lemonade behind this network of farming women. The classic recipe doesn’t account for the most important ingredients: tablespoons of community spirit, a dash of advocacy, ounces of emergency relief assistance and cups of education that bind this volunteer-run organisation together. The CWA is a well-established organisation that represents the needs of rural women. Through friendship, community service and education, its members have built a platform to advocate and fundraise fiercely for improved social support and welfare outcomes. In Thoona, a small town 200 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, the CWA has many faces. 15 to be exact, including 4 junior members. 

I asked Heather for some advice for junior doctors and medical students considering a career in a rural area. I’m sure the last words had hardly left my lips before she chimed in with a pearl of wisdom entangled in the Thoona vernacular – “getting in and living it is the only way”. She went on to share a recent trip to southern India that reframed her entire perspective on culture, the prospect of travel and finding meaning in life’s simpler things. She compared this trip to a foreign place, with unfamiliar customs and people, to what it might feel like for a young professional to leave their city comforts for a small town just like Thoona. 

In the end, Heather’s bid to reclaim the title of ‘Favourite Aunty’ took over her reservations and she decided to travel for her niece’s engagement in Kerala. On paper, it seemed there were all the ingredients for an experience drenched in unfamiliarity, thousands of kilometres from home. You might have even said, ‘a recipe for disaster’. But what proved to be true, was a resounding strength and comfort in this environment and an unmatched welcome culture that put her and her husband instantly at ease. What followed was a meaningful (but no doubt, at times, challenging) celebration of new culture, new family and new community.

Heather's message came through clearly: the best way to settle into a rural town was to find your people, and choose to get involved. For Heather, that looks like a ten-year membership with the CWA. For her husband Laury, it's volunteering with the local Learn-To-Drive program. These connections, built through simple acts of involvement, are the greatest protectors of your social and emotional wellbeing. Everyone has something to share, and every town has something to offer in response. The task is simple: draw your own Venn diagram and claim your spot where the two intersect.