|
|
Too Young to Retire, the perfect holiday gift. Now available where books are sold.
|
Lynne
Garnett: Peace Corps Volunteer Sixty-something Lynne Garnett is a world traveler, owner of her own web-based business in preventative health care, personal coach, corporate consultant, and care-giver for her 81-year-old mother. In her next life, she plans to turn her youthful experiences in the Peace Corps -- she was in Indonesia immediately after the coup against Sukarno -- into a screenplay: "a combination of Casablanca, The Year of Living Dangerously, and Volunteers." Here is her story: My professional life began in 1964 when I joined the Peace Corps, working in Malaysiafor two years as a psychiatric social worker from the Muar District Hospital. Muar is a town between Kuala Lumpur, the capital and Johore Bahru (right across the straits from Singapore). Ironically, adjusting to Malaysia was far easier than adjusting to America on my return. I was prepared for a new culture, language training, cultural training. Our Peace Corps training, although based in the US at that time (now they train in country), included being taught by, eating with, and relaxing with, teachers from Malaysia. We were fairly well immersed for three months prior to flying to Malaysia. Nothing turned out as planned, however. I trained to teach English, then trained for two weeks to teach double-crop rotation for farmers. When I got off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, I found that I was to spend two months working in a mental hospital in Johore Bahru, then open my own psychiatric social work clinic. (I have a B.S. in Cultural Anthropology and Social Work). I loved every minute of it. Then, culture shock on my return to the U.S. No one knew yet about re-entry problems in the early days of the Peace Corps. I found our culture pretty intimidating. People seemed so pushy; they moved so fast; they were so intrusive. I couldn't write a check fast enough; the dynamics of simple things seemed so complicated. I remember writing five versions of a check one day as a woman behind me harumphed and yelled about stupid people. When I left, there were beatniks, when I returned there were hippies. At first I was shocked, but soon I thought they were wonderful. Peace and Love, who could argue with that. Of course, my brother was in Viet Nam. He stepped on a landmine and survived. Peace and love took on a new perspective and sent me (and millions of others I believe) on a lifelong quest for the meaning of life. Back to School at Midlife I had spent 10 years supporting myself and my husband (a perpetual student), and now I was divorced and free. The 70s were wonderful for me, I was still young enough to be a part of the wildness, yet old enough to know better and not get into too much trouble. I had been such a well-behaved teenager that I had my "teenage rebellion" in my 30s. I went back to school to earn a Masters degree in Health at UCLA and then a Ph.D in psychology from USC; a "weekend hippie" and a student the rest of the time. While completing my dissertation, I worked with teenagers who had committed felonies, been kicked out of school, and were on probation. Another therapist and I taught them assertiveness training. One of my most memorable clients was a young man who developed alternatives to getting defensive and angry with his nagging mother. He reported that, instead of blowing up, he had made her a cup of tea and they had talked for hours. He cried as he told us the story, and we cried too. After graduation, I worked at UCLA as a psychologist and consultant with the business community, focusing on international business. In 1978, I moved to Japan to teach multi-cultural business approaches. I spoke fairly fluent Japanese then, could read four written forms of Japanese. I also spoke Malay and Spanish, all stored somewhere in a little memory package. In the 80s I returned to the US and lived and worked in Hawaii for a time. I taught psychology at the University, had a private practice with a colleague, and started a training and consulting firm. I also ran a profit-free center for women in transition. I returned to the mainland for a year of teaching in Minnesota, then moved to Arizona to work with the international training and consulting firm I had been affiliated with since the mid-80s. I am fortunate to travel to Asia for my work. It gives me the opportunity to practice a little of my first career choice, cultural anthropology, specializing in the role of women and the education of children. Along the way, I evolved from therapist to personal coach. My book, Finding the Great Creative You, was published in 1990 by Aslan Publishing in California. In the late 90s I started my health business. I had the academic background for it, but the impetus was the near death of my 81 year old mother. It is a very long story, basically, I almost lost her and I needed to find a way to bring her back to health after the doctors were able to save her life, but not restore her health. She is doing wonderfully now and I pray I will have her here with me for a good long time. I also look forward to rejoining the Peace Corps for another two years. Every 3-7 years or so, I sell, give away and toss almost everything I own and start over, I think this has made room in my life for new ideas, new opportunities and new growth. Next Steps Older volunteers wanted! 1-800-424-8580 gets you connected to a local recruiter, or visit: http://www.peacecorps.gov/ques/helen_land.html to help you decide if this is right for you and whether you are qualified. So You Want to Join the Peace Corps : What to Know Before You Goby Dillon Banerjee Copyright
2006 2Young2Retire.com, All Rights Reserved |
