Me-time – in this era of busy modern living, is it actually possible to wind down, or is it simply wishful thinking?
Well, The Sunday Independent’s Life Magazine did an extensive feature on the topic this weekend, interviewing 60 of our favourite famous faces on how they chill out. Some of their answers may be slightly surprising..and others, not so much!
Daniel O’Donnell
For the Donegal singer, he relaxes by going for a meal, going for a round of golf or organising a card a game. “I also like to go for a ceili for some set dancing,” he said. “All this might not sound very exciting but for me, it’s heaven.”
Pippa O’Connor
The blogger admitted she always has her phone in hand – but she’s trying to replace it with a book. “I love reading, so I’m trying to put the phone down and read more often,” she said.
Yvonne Connolly
The former model turns to her newfound passion for cooking to de-stress. “I love to chop – yes chop,” she said. “It’s quite therapeutic. There’s nothing I love more than a bit of music, a glass of wine and a lots of vegetables to chop.”
Daithi O Se
Tv star Daithi enjoys the simples things. “The thing that relaxes me most is cutting the lawn,” he said. “How sad, you say! Cutting the lawn! I don’t have a ride-on either; it’s a push job (nothing sexual about that, I promise.) Ooh-err!
Brent Pope
Among the things that wind Brent down are art, riding his motorbike, and going to the gym. Oh, and taking a nap in the cinema! “Sometimes I go to the movies just to sleep; often I will go to a matinee showing in the afternoon by myself, with hardly anyone in the theatre, and I just nod off. It’s lovely!”
Ruth O’Neill
The tv host has clearly picked up a thing or two from her time in LA. “Nothing relaxes the mind, body and spirit more than a good yoga class,” she claims.
Georgia Salpa
Gorgeous Georgia relaxes just how you’d expect a model to – with plenty of pampering. “I travel a lot and when I’m on a long haul flight, I always do a facemask and lately I’ll have one of those adult colouring in books,” she said. “I probably look crazy on a flight with the face mask on, but I don’t care.”
Oliver Callan
The funnyman was extremely candid about how he does ‘me-time’ – and we love his honesty. Telling readers not to believe the other celebs’ answers, he said: “They won’t admit it, but their downtime is close to mine. That involves watching eight hours of Netflix back-to-back, eating so many Kettle crisps that I can no longer hear the tv, and sitting next to a bag of Malteasers as large as a medium, sized dog.”
Angela Scanlon
RTE star Angela said she’s also a fan of a duvet day, only emerging when she has “an urgent craving” for crisps. She’s also downloaded an app to help her switch off, but added, “that said, I find that whiskey on the rocks has a similar effect…”
Al Porter
The comedian says he likes to go see other comedy acts, such as Dylan Moran, or visit the theatre – as well as a spot of karaoke. “I’ll go to a karaoke place and put my name down about five times,” he said. “It’s always something cheesy like Joe Dolan and I love it!” Al also likes to do impressions to pass the time while touring – including one of Pierce Brosnan ordering a latte in Starbucks. Hmm…