You may find this hard to believe with all the pimping and preening and posturing that goes on a VIP photoshoot. But, days like today can be deeply moving. Allowing someone to strip you back, both physically and figuratively, requires a relinquishing of control. The subject relinquishing control today is the matriarch of this happy family.
Today, wellness warrior Georgie Crawford has to trust us to make her look good. She also has to have believe that we will tell her family story with accuracy and empathy. Giving over control is never easy.
In an industry as small as ours, the freelancers we hire for these types of shoots, are often friends. We all go on the journey with many of the folk we feature on these pages. We become part of their story when they’re at their most vulnerable, while standing in their underwear trying on clothes with a stylist or, sitting without a screed of cover-up in a MUA’s chair.
Like the chapters in their book of life, we document. We told Georgie’s story after breast cancer. We walked with her through an actual Healing Forest in Enniskerry, as she brought us along with her on her wellness journey. We celebrated with the 39-yearold when she published her first book (Glow: Five Steps to Create the Life You Dream About) and we listened as she shared her surrogacy dreams.
And now today, here we are making ourselves coffee in her Kilternan home; doing glam in her bedroom where she found that breast lump; standing by her side in the nursery watching her wriggly 5-month-old gurgling; seeing her actual dream made in to reality.
So, when the tears do spring forth later as she smiles to the camera – a perfect little daughter (Pia Rose, 7, and Tahlie Rain, 5 months) in each arm, we well up too. Days like this (and exclusive photos as cute as these) are priceless.
Georgie, how is this family of four doing?
We are thriving. It’s still so surreal…I’m overwhelmed with love and gratitude. For Tahlie to be here is the greatest gift on earth.
You wrote a book about how we all can create the life we dream about. This is the life you dreamed about, Georgie! Dreaming works!
It does! But I must say, multitasking and being a parent to a second child is not all fairytales and fluffiness every day. The juggle is real especially with us having our own business. But, everyday when I wake up, love is the overwhelming emotion and that makes it much easier for me to surrender other things and not sweat the small stuff. If I do feel overwhelmed I just look at her and I realise she was what I was working towards. I heard this great phase recently that if you think everyone is going too slow, well most likely, you’re going too fast!
Do you often feel like everyone is going too slow?!
Guilty! And, I definitely thought we would have more time when we came home from Tbilisi, Georgia in September after welcoming Tahlie in to the world, by surrogacy. We really downed tools when we were over there, also because we had to wait for the paperwork, and so we had this month when we were in this bubble. Everyday we got up and went on a new adventure. We were out exploring the city like tourists; we joked that Tahlie had been to so many restaurants and in the back of so may taxis before she was even a month old! But, when we came home we were pretty tired! We had all these commitments we had made before we found out that we had a pregnancy. I had a Christmas show lined up and a podcast series to do with Gerry Hussey. In hindsight I don’t think I had enough of a break but, maybe we all say that? I’m not sure….I am trying to set my boundaries as much as possible because I don’t want to regret not eating her up!
Usually you’re really open on social media but you have kept her pretty much to yourselves – until now.
It wasn’t a conscious decision but it has been such a private journey. I’m back with The Good Glow podcast just in the last few weeks and so this feels like the end of my maternity leave. In fact, this week feels like a back to work week for me! I have loved keeping her to ourselves for the last five months. But I feel almost selfish because so many people have helped me on my journey. We are ready to come out of our cocoon – a bit!
Well, thank you for inviting us into your cocoon today. Tell us a little about this perfect new baby…
Tahlie was created in November 2017, a couple of weeks after my cancer diagnosis. When I look at Tahlie and Pia now there are seven years between them. But, actually, there are seven months between them. We feel as though we have been apart from her for so long, from when she was a little embryo travelling around the world to Ukraine and Paris, on trains and planes and everything without us. So when we finally got to meet her on the 25th of September, it was like we were reunited. Already she feels part of our gang! She’s so laid back and is definitely the most laid back person in the house. I thought I was, but no, Tahlie is horizontal. It’s like she’s so happy to be here. Like she’s always been here.
It may sound strange to say this, but she’s got depth in her eyes. It’s like she’s been here before.
Like her soul has been here, yes. Actually when I was really sad trying to bring her to the world my friend Sinead Devapura, who’s an intuitive healer, met me and said, you know you’re baby is just sitting on a wall waiting to be called in.
Crazy! Pia must be besotted?
It’s Tahlie who’s besotted with Pia! She just stares at her, cannot take her eyes off her. I always knew Pia was the kindest, most caring, beautiful soul but, to see the way she treats Tahlie, the way she protects her and communicates with her, it would melt your heart.
Love bubble aside, not every day is easy. There’s the juggle, the struggle, the exhaustion, the irrepressible mother’s guilt. How do you deal when you’re struggling?
We can’t imagine you ever losing it. I definitely felt much more overwhelmed, much more frustrated and much more out of control with Pia when she was a baby. Because I really struggled with perfectionism in my life back then. I wanted to breastfeed exclusively. I wanted to be with Pia every second of the day. I was afraid to close my eyes in case something happened to her. I never asked for help, even though there was help all around me. With Tahlie I have definitely surrendered a lot more. Some days Tahlie doesn’t see me from 10-4, I could completely beat myself up about that and feel like I’m a bad mother. But, I’ve seen that I’m surrounded by incredible people and incredible support so the big difference in the two parenting experiences is that I’m much more able to lean on people this time round. I do go out for runs and I do go to the gym and sometimes it’s hard to do, because you want to do everything for your child. But, it’s a huge lesson I learnt the first time, because Pia had to then look at me for a year being so ill, leaving her to go to chemo. I now know I have to look after myself.
A new parenting book just published (How To Raise A Viking), talks about how our culture compared to the Danes wraps children up in bubble wrap, removing risk of all forms from their life. Trying to do everything for our children and trying to dit perfectly, is doing no one any favours.
Maybe this more relaxed version of me is just second-child syndrome? It’s so hard to know because none of my early parenting experiences have been straightforward. Maybe I was the way I was with Pia because she was my first? Or maybe it was because I had cancer? With Tahlie, is it because she’s a second child or because she came into the world via surrogacy? It really is hard to know but I do think I trust the universe a lot more now. I’m not as protective of Tahlie. I don’t think something bad is going to happen to her all the time, like I did with Pia.
How’s daddy Jamie coping with all the women in the house (their Labrador Piper is a girl, too)?
Jamie is very outnumbered! We’re going to have to get a male dog! It’s funny to watch Jamie because the first time round he got his two week parental leave and then after that he’d come home from work and I’d be there after nine hours by myself – demented! Whereas this time, he’s here, and I’m like, see what maternity leave is really like! But he’s such an incredible help, he’s the best person and the best dad. He really had to step up to the plate when I got sick back in 2017 and since then I’ve always known everybody would be fine once Jamie was around.
You probably weren’t that fine before Christmas when after a routine mammogram you got a call back for a cautionary biopsy. Must have been tough to control the mind from going to those dark places, again?
It felt like going back in time…but throughout that scare I woke up every morning and before I had a chance to actively think about things, I’d feel well. That feeling of being well came first before my thoughts came in, the thoughts of what if’s and the worry
of relapse for Tahlie’s first Christmas. But over the last six years I’ve really learnt to trust my inner voice. Thankfully I got the news two days before Christmas that what they were investigating was benign. Joy!
Explain to us about that first thought. So, when you woke up in the morning, did you force yourself to switch your thinking to positive? Or was your waking thought actually positive?
You know the feeling when you wake up in the morning after a few glasses of wine? That feeling! Before when I had cancer, I didn’t feel well. But this time I did. I am very connected to my body these days so I can tell if I’m well or not, which may sound bonkers, but I can.
So, how did you feel when you were diagnosed in 2017?
I kept saying I didn’t look like myself. I kept saying, ‘I’m such a weird colour’. Another friend of mine who had breast cancer said she had the same thoughts in the lead up to her diagnosis, that she was a weird colour. My nails were also breaking half way down, I couldn’t get my hair properly clean. I think it’s important if you’re getting those whispers that something isn’t right, to get checked. Because I was so lucky where my lump was that I found it. But what if it was buried deep within my breast? And even though every part of me was saying you’re not well, you’re not well, I just ignored it because I was a first time mum and I thought I was just exhausted.
We’re such hypochondriac that if we listened to all of the whispers, we’d never be out of the GP’s!
I know what you mean but us women are very quick to pin it on something like being a mum or the menopause. We need to get educated on our bodies. We need to bang the door of the GP’s down and not feel guilty about getting checked. If you feel like there’s something off, you have to address it. You owe it to yourself and to your family and to everybody who loves you to look after yourself. I try to sit still from time to time and ask myself, how am I? Am I drinking enough water? Am I doing enough for myself? Where can I improve? Where can I shift slightly this week to make a tiny effort to take more care of me?
Do you allow yourself throw caution to the wind and go rogue with the food and drink – on occasion, even?
Oh God, yeah! I really live by the Blue Zones method. Before Covid, I was so obsessed with my health I was actually causing myself more damage than eating the damn burger or the takeaway! Dan Buettner’s studies show that the people around the world who live the longest, live in nine Blue Zones. And in these Blue Zones they move everyday, they embrace their community, they have spirituality, hey drink wine, they eat carbs. It’s about eating the good food – when you can – but not stressing yourself about having a glass of wine and a bit of craic. Because that’s gonna help you live longer anyway!
In the opening sequence to yourself and Gerry Hussey’s podcast Better Days, there’s a line which says you need to be your own biggest supporter. But, isn’t it so hard to be your own biggest fan?
You’re talking to someone who has to work on that every single day! I never say to anyone that I wake up full of self belief, full of motivation. I pride myself on being real and I would find it hard to believe that everyone in the wellness business, is well everyday. How can we be in the world we live in? What I do have now are things that I can turn to to help me. And I didn’t have those things before in 2017. I just numbed myself with bottles of wine, with going out. Whereas if I wake up in the morning now and I don’t feel like I can face The Good Glow community because I have serious self doubt, I know what I can do to raise my every levels. I have worked really hard over the last six years to keep mentally well. But, when you don’t see me online for a while, it’s because I’m not feeling full of self belief. I definitely don’t have it all figured out.
One of those Better Days episodes focussed on change. It said that within three years of getting married you and your partner are completely different people. How different are you today from the person Jamie married nine years ago?
Entirely different! He could probably get an annulment! I’ve just been so lucky that Jamie has come on this self-development adventure with me. Jamie is my biggest supporter – especially when it comes to exercising. I still go out on my runs, but 2 kms in, I go, ‘I can’t do this’! But Jamie says, ‘You can!’
Do you ever just want to say, ‘Jamie, no, I can’t! I’m going home to eat ice-cream!’?
[laughing] I remember speaking to my oncologist before about relationships and she said to me, ‘Georgie, men try to fix things all the time. They’re constantly trying to fix you’. Any time I have a problem, instead of just listening, Jamie will try to find a solution. But he literally is my life coach! He helps me believe in myself so much.
How has Jamie changed over the years?
I think he’s become softer. He’s more vulnerable in himself now too. But I would say that, I am his biggest fan!
You work together on The Good Glow all the time. How do you get away from the claustrophobia of that, because at times it must be intense?
It’s quitting time; I have to set serious boundaries. Because we could talk about The Good Glow all day everyday because we love what we do and we’re really creative together. But, I’m very conscious of burnout. Also Pia is seven now and she doesn’t want to be sitting at the table when we’re constantly talking about work. We have family time, we have a Joy List, which is a list on the wall of all the things that bring us joy. I know what makes Jamie happy and Pia happy and we try to tick things off as much as we can. We have to remind ourselves that our business is such a big part of our life but it’s not our entire life.
Your business makes you guys feel good, as well as your Good Glow community, too. Must be the dream job?
For us, I think it is. The point of The Good Glow was always to help people. And we’ve stuck to that. Five years later we’re off to New York for St Patrick’s weekend and we’re bringing 200 people with us to run the New York half marathon. A part of me though is really excited for that time with Jamie alone. Because one thing I did take from doing the podcast with Gerry is that your life cannot be all about the kids; the bills; the job. It’s also about having fun. And I have definitely asked myself that question over the last few months: are Jamie and I having enough fun? And the answers is definitely no at the moment. We are running a business, running a home, we communicate to make things function well. But we are definitely not going out and having a laugh together and that needs to be a huge focus for me going forward. So, as a guilty as I’ll feel going off and leaving the girls for that weekend – we need it.
2024 promises to be a big year for The Good Glow too, doesn’t it?
I’ve always wanted to grow The Good Glow outside of Ireland, and New York this year is the start. It’s really exciting for us. We hope to run events, we’re looking to do the Chicago half marathon and something in LA, too. A big dream for me would be to start little pockets of Good Glow communities across the world. I think over the last few years it felt like we were waiting. And as I waited, I felt like time was standing still. 2023 gave me so much hope but 2024 is giving me so much joy and belief. My vision board this year will take me forward. I’m excited to continue to grow and learn everyday. And, I’m training to become a meditation teacher!
