Anna Daly is a busy woman.
From parenting three boys, 13-year-old James, 11-year-old Euan and seven-year-old Rhys to her freelance work, she knows how important it is to just take a few minutes for yourself. Even if it is just a walk around the block. We laugh about our love of “laps”, even if it’s just around the room to take a second for yourself. Parenting, work and everything in between can take a toll.
But she’s all smiles as we chat over Zoom. Like we said, she’s a busy woman and we’re glad to get the 20 minutes we have. Okay, maybe a bit longer than 20 minutes because we love to chat!
From telly to parenting to working out, Anna let us into her life…
Hi Anna! How are you? Let’s talk about this year’s GOAL Mile, proudly supported by AIB. Why did you get involved?
Over Christmas, it’s very easy to get a bit lazy, isn’t it, and get cosy on the couch. That’s kind of what Christmas was all about. It’s slowing down and making time for family and friends and all the lovely catch-ups and drinks from the local and all that kind of stuff. But I do think it appeals to me, getting out fresh air. It’s 2000 steps or a mile approximately, and I think there’s something lovely about marching the family out the door and just kind of involving yourselves in the community and have a chat. People might need it more than you think. It’s a lovely thing to do, and it’s a lovely charity to support. There’s no negative in it. You know, I think we all need to blow off the cobwebs at that time as well. So it’s probably timed very well.
And 2000 steps is very achievable.
That’s exactly it. It could be something you do with your man. Do you know what I mean? It doesn’t have to be that traditional family unit doing something together. Maybe you need to escape the family from, you know, walking over the Lego or kids screaming at each other. Maybe it is something you do with your parents or your cousins, or your other girlfriends. I think it’s a nice tradition to start, regardless of who you do it with your being social, and you’re getting out and about for charity.
Speaking of that escape, you’re a mam of three boys! Your eldest is 13, which must come with a different set of challenges. How has your parenting changed?
You’re on in a different way. I don’t have nappy bags and buggies hanging out of me the way I did a very short time ago. Then you think you’re going to have loads of free time, and suddenly they develop all these hobbies, and you put them into all this extracurricular stuff, and you realise that actually you’re in and out of their house like a lunatic. Drop in collecting so it’s busy, but in a different kind of way, I suppose.
You mentioned no more early morning telly, but we hope you being on telly will continue!
I don’t think I go back to early, early breakfast TV. I kind of feel when you’ve done that and you walk away from it, I think you park that. But I do very various series for RTÉ. I love all of those and tell he’s definitely, I suppose, my first love and where it started, so that that will all continue. I hope, unless you know otherwise! [Laughs] So that all continues, and hopefully lots more. With RTÉ next year, we’re talking about various other ideas, so hopefully, some of those will come to fruition. It’s the freelance world, you know, you have to be proactive with your ideas, and you have to be talking to production companies and all that kind of stuff. That’s exactly what I’m doing.
You also spoke about your grá for radio after filling in on Newstalk…
The radio was fun, and something that pushes slightly outside your comfort zone, I think is really important to do. So I covered for Andrea [Gilligan] and Lunchtime Live on Newstalk this year a good few times and that’s been great. And it’s very similar to what I’ve done before, in that it’s live and two hours, so you’re when you’re on, you’re on. But you’re on your own, and it’s pretty punchy. The show goes all over the place, depending on the callers, and I suppose the listeners are shaping where that show goes, very similar to previous shows that I would have done. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it, and I suppose that’s why I said, love to do more radio.
Between being a mam to three boys, freelance work, being a business woman, you’re up to your eyeballs. But what is your self care? How do you take a second to yourself?
Now I work freelance, I have time to say yes and no to gigs. So I try to make time for myself. I went to the gym this morning and try and do like a 5k most days, whether that’s in the gym or just walking. I live in Greystones. It’s very conducive to walking by the sea. So I think that’s important. And in my head, if I’ve done exercise, I sometimes log on to Lean with Lesly as well. Do you know her? Lean With Leslie is an online coach, and I have weights at home that I can log into any of her classes. And sometimes it could be like a class from two years ago, but I don’t care if it’s this morning’s class or two years ago, I just want to do half an hour or something, you know, and she’s great. She kind of breaks it down and makes it a bit fun. And, you know, I just in my head, I feel better. I kind of dine out on the fact that I have done it for the rest of the day, and it makes me feel good. And then there are days where you don’t get to it, and that’s fair enough. But, other than that, I think time with friends is really important. Old friends, new friends. I’m a bit of a “I don’t need new friends because I’ve got my old friends” person. But I realised that’s a little bit immature, so I’m embracing the new a little bit more. I did a gig recently with Camille O’Sullivan the singer and Celine Byrne, the soprano. So they were the entertainment at a gig where I was the MC because I’m never going to be the singer ever. But the three of us got on like a house on fire at this one event. So now the three of us are going to Camille’s gig on Thursday and dinner beforehand.
Honestly, a walk does you the world of good!
I say this all the time to even my own mates, you know, sometimes the house gets so busy with kids and noise that sometimes, even if you’re in the middle of making the dinner, I just think it’s, it’s worthwhile, obviously, if there’s another responsible adult in the house just turn everything off and let them wait and go for a bloody walk around the block because you kind of come back like a better person, you know what I mean, a calmer person, a bit of perspective. I think it’s really important. And that could, that could be the same for you, just working away from home or whatever. Sometimes you just need to walk away from it no matter how busy you are, don’t you?
Anna Daly has teamed up with GOAL Mile, proudly supported by AIB, this Christmas. Whether walking, strolling, jogging, or running, everyone is invited to participate in the GOAL Mile with family, friends, or their wider community. Early bird registration is now open at www.GOALmile.org. Participants and supporters can also donate directly to GOAL through the AIB app.
