Today’s live is brought to you by me walking and Tiger King. So I had a question over the last few days because I’ve been talking a little bit about turning off from social media, turning off from the news and kind of decompressing a lot of what’s going on at the moment. And so a friend of mine said to me, “Well, we’ve got all this time now, so we’re making these massive lists of things to do, is it okay to actually stop working?” And I thought about it for a while because I myself have made this massive list of things that I want to achieve while we’re in lockdown, if we’re in lockdown that we’re not quite in yet, but we all think it’s going to happen. More of that later. And I was like, “No, we should get it all done. No, we should turn off. No, we should get it all done. No, we should turn off.” And I yo-yoed backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards.
And I came to the conclusion this afternoon, actually, while I was listening to my daughter have all her drama lessons online, so it was a little bit distracting to work myself because I could hear these kids on video doing all the stuff, that you know what? Oh my God, it’s probably the best time ever to go, “Yep. I’m just not going to work at the moment.” I’m going to have a couple of days off or a day off or an hour off, whatever that looks like for you because we’re all different. And I’m quite comfortable when I’m in flow to work seven days a week, 20 hours a day.
I remember years and years ago, I was doing a lot of singing gigs and I was also doing a breakfast radio show and I was also working in sales during the day. So I would literally go from one to the other, to the other, to the other. And I was exhausted but so invigorated by what I was doing. And when we like what we’re doing, that’s a blessing and a curse because it can take up all our life, all our energy, everything. It’s all-consuming, as the saying goes. And when we’ve got stuff going on, for like we do at the moment, crisis, we can go, “Oh, I can’t control that, so what I can control is my work environment. So I’m going to throw myself in there,” or, “I can control my home environment, so I’m going to maniacally clean my cupboards,” or, “I can control my children, so I’m going to create a crazy schedule for them or I’m going to sit and paint with them all day.”
We want control somewhere because we feel like we’re losing it in other areas of our life. And one of the best things you can actually do in life is go, “You know what? I don’t have control at the moment and that’s okay. I’m going to let it go. I’m going to relax. I’m going to do what feels right in this particular moment.”
You know what I did today? Because I couldn’t concentrate on the work I wanted to do. It’s Sunday for God’s sake, I didn’t need to be working. But I was going, “Oh, I’ve got this time. I can do this. I can do this. Elodie’s doing her classes, so I should be doing something,” feeling like I was, I don’t know, letting myself down or the world down by not achieving something on a Sunday. And I went, “You know what? I actually feel like watching TV for a while.” So I’ve been watching the Tiger King. Oh my God. Never done a TV review in my life before, but I tell you, if you haven’t watched it, you have to watch Tiger King. It is so all-encompassing. You just watch the show going, “Oh my God, when is the train going to crash?” Because it’s like lots of mini train crashes all happening. I’m getting distracted here. Watch it. If you can, if you’ve got Netflix, watch it.
But my point is don’t set yourself up with ridiculous standards at the moment. If you need to switch off, switch the hell off. If you want to play mahjong all day, play mahjong all day. If you want to go for a run, go for a run. You see, I’m running, I’m running, I’m running. Okay, I’m not really a runner; that would actually kill me. Give me a weights class any day. But do what makes you feel good at the moment, as long as you are being… and here’s my caveat, as long as you’re being true to yourself, as long as you are helping and supporting the people you love and care about, as long as you were holding up your end of the bargain in terms of work, and as long as you are staying safe and well. The rest of it doesn’t matter.
So, happy Sunday, guys. Enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. And if you don’t want to work, don’t work. And if you do want to work, don’t let people judge you for doing that either. If you’re using this time to work seven days a week, go for it if that’s what make you feel good. Absolutely. Stay well, and I will see you all tomorrow. Bye.