February 2025 - FIVE good things

Four if you understandably don't count running.

February has flown by. According to my diary I started the month with 6 days of illness, which I do vaguely remember and then there were recordings to make, a work-related trip to Cardiff, a children’s birthday party, another sickness bug (my son this time), a school Eisteddfod, a very important commissioning deadline and a whirlwind of half-term adventures. But in amongst all that, I spent a day being filmed for a short about Read the Room Productions. Having a camera on me for that length of time is definitely NOT in my comfort zone (and watching my face back is even less so!) but it was a real pleasure to walk with Rhys and Michael from Fforest Films around my local hills and woodlands. Seeing it all through their eyes and the camera lens gave me a renewed appreciation of the scenery on my doorstep. I’ll share the results as soon as I can but until then, here’s a photo from the day. The cameraman Rhys is walking downhill towards me, my dog Berti and one of my favourite trees. This solitary twisted old hawthorn has stoically survived all the recent storms.

Photo credit: Michael Kenny

5 things apart from Queer Eye that helped me get through February:

1. Radio alarm clock

I’ve gone back to the 90’s! In a continued attempt to ignore my phone as much as possible, I’ve set up a radio alarm clock next to the bed and my phone is banished before bedtime every night into another room. I now wake up to music and chat every morning, rather than beeps and doom scrolls. It feels nostalgic because it’s how I used to wake up when I was a teenager. I can’t claim it’s made me any better at getting up (or any earlier) but I’m definitely in a much better mood.

Photo by Juliano Costa on Unsplash

2. RTR Action Log

I’m not really sure what else to call it but since I started developing Read the Room Productions in April last year I’ve kept a log of three things I’ve done each week to move RTR or various projects I’m working on along. It’s nearly a year since I left the BBC now and so it’s grown to be a long list! It’s a really simple way of seeing how much work I’ve done by chipping away each week. When I’m feeling like I haven’t been ‘productive’ enough I take a sneaky peek and it gives me a boost and a massive sense of achievement. I’ve also made it colourful and pretty to look at 😉

3. Podcast: Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee:

   #517 - How to change your habits, achieve your goals and live a contented life with Sahil Bloom

I’ve been a fan of Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s ‘Feel Better, Live More’ podcast for a while but I usually have to listen in chunks or to the ‘bitesize’ ones because the episodes are so long. However, they are perfect for long runs (see below!). I don’t have to queue up anything else and they keep me distracted from my head telling me I want to stop running all the time! I really enjoyed this episode, especially learning about the five types of wealth and ‘life razor’s’ which are decision making tools. I can find decision making tiring and difficult sometimes and I’d never heard of life razor’s before this episode. After some consideration I now have my own:

‘I have enough space and freedom in my life to create and say ‘yes’ to adventures with family and friends.’

When an opportunity that turned my head came up recently, I knew it wasn’t right for me because it would have meant a lot less agency over my own time. I would usually have ummed and ahhed for ages but this helped me to make a decision quickly and move on.

4. Signing up to a half marathon

Ugh! I know, I don’t want to be a running evangelist at all so please read on if running isn’t for you. I get it. Trust me, there is lots I don’t like about it but what I will say in favour of running is, it’s low cost, requires very little ‘gear’ and is pretty economical in terms of time spent. However, voluntarily going for a jog every other day just doesn’t happen in my world. I need the motivation of pure fear!

Of course I’ve been cursing my decision to sign up to a half marathon all winter. We’ve been snowed in, had countless lurgies and the weather has in general been absolutely minging. My hit rate on the training plan has been poor (to put it mildly) but despite all the set-backs, my good friend fear has made me put my trainers on and get out the house for a run as much as possible. And I hate to say it but I’ve seen noticeable benefits:

• I have an underlying health condition which means I need regular checks at the hospital. In my last hospital appointment the doctor asked me if I exercised. I was actually excited to be able to say so definitively, ‘Yes, I’m training for a half marathon.’ When the checks were complete my results had improved. ‘It will be the exercising’ she said, ‘it really makes a difference.’ I looked at her in horror. ‘Oh god, does that mean I have to keep running?’

• I usually find the darkness of January and February difficult and have the SAD lamp to prove it. I definitely haven’t had the same dip in mood and energy that I usually get.

• I can get LOTS of podcast listening in, so I actually look forward to that, rather than the run.

• My Fitbit is really happy with me

The half marathon is on Sunday next week (eek!). I’ll let you know the result in the March edition. Will I do a good time? Probably not. Will I finish? I’m starting to think it’s possible. Am I fitter than when I started? Absolutely yes.

That was way too much on running. Unfortunately I’m now trapped for life so I’ve got to convince myself I love it but you still have freedom of choice! Get out while you can.

Photo: Trainers from the last time I tried running in 2015 (Couch to 5k)

5. Our library

I’m quite happy to be evangelical about libraries. They’re brilliant but I didn’t realise quite how brilliant until I moved into the middle of a field. The service they provide to rural areas blows my mind! You can order all the books you want online and once a month they deliver them to your house AND collect the old ones for FREE. I absolutely love it and so does my son. One of the highlights of every month for me is getting a new batch of bedtime stories for him delivered to our door. Before he goes to sleep, I like to ask him what his favourite thing about each day is and last week after a recent in-person trip he said ‘going to the library’. I was delighted, he’s a bookish child! Then I asked him why and he said ‘the revolving door’!

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BONUS! I posted some thoughts about burnout prevention on Instagram. If you missed it, here they are again…

Avoiding burnout has been THE number one goal in my first year of RTR Productions, after previously having two bouts in two years.

It’s a healthy goal but not an easy one to know how to action or measure precisely. Here are a few things I’ve been doing differently over the last 11 months that I think have contributed to keeping burnout at bay now that I’m freelance and in charge of my own time.

1. Feel the freedom! This is the main one I need to keep reminding myself with excitement. I make the rules now so I don’t HAVE to follow traditional ideas or working patterns. Recognising ways of working that suit me and my family is a valuable learning curve even it if means challenging unhelpful feelings of guilt about what I ‘should’ be doing (eg. chained to a desk and screen 9-5, five days a week)

2. Rather than trying to work through my son’s school holidays, I use them as a guide to take a break and slow down, even if it’s just for 3-4 days in a row. I try and make sure we have a change of scenery, go on some adventures and visit family and friends. There are always deadlines but I try and prioritise the holiday and work deadlines in around it, rather than the other way round. Instead of consistently working, I work better if I have an intense period of work followed by a proper break.

3. I can find it difficult to sit down at a desk and concentrate in the mornings. But what I do usually want to do is move! So I try and block out this time to exercise, do errands, chores and walk Berti our dog. When I’m on the move, my brain is actually working away in the background, solving problems and coming up with ideas. Once all the fidgety stuff is out the way I’m raring to sit down and concentrate.

4. Limiting video meetings to one a day where possible. If I have a meeting heavy day I try and make sure most of them are Whatsapp calls so that I don’t have to be glued to the screen as I find that really tiring.

5. Making time for socialising / networking. I really love meeting new people and of course chatting away to people I already know. It puts a smile on my face, gives me a huge boost of energy and often opens up potential ways to work together.