But the price of those early morning starts is a
certain isolation. “What I don’t get that other grown-
ups have is that time when the kids are in bed, or
they’re of doing their homework, and you sit down
with your partner and have a glass of wine and watch
something on television. I don’t have that. Because at
9.30pm, that’s when I need to be going to bed.”
Instead, she has to carve out alternative ways of
recharging. Like many women in their midlife, Amanda
says that’s something she struggles with: how to say
no to others, and make time to nurture herself.“I like being busy and the radio and TV work
I’m doing is not stressful. But public speaking, and
those sorts of charity commitments, if I add that
on top, they can be quite stressful. The hard thing
is there are a million people who could use you [as
an MC or an ambassador], and it’s so hard to not say
yes to everything. This is my year of trying to eke
out time for myself. Because if someone asks me to
do something I go, ‘Oh, I’d better to that’. But I’m
not getting the rest I need.
“As we get older we’re all talking about being
more mindful, and being more self-aware on every
level, and of asking ourselves: what do I require to
function to my potential? Not to meet everyone
else’s expectations, but mine.”L
ast year was something of a watershed where
Amanda says she was close to burnout. “I felt
I never caught my breath and that all year
I was running on top of a ball. So this year I’m starting
to say the words out loud ‘I don’t think I can do that’.
Or, ‘do you mind if I don’t do that?’,” She credits
the producers at The Living Room for reducing her
workload of stories for the show when she asked.
“I’m trying to be strong with what I think I need.
I’m still not entirely sure I know what that is, but I was
determined at the beginning of this year to have a
calmer year. I do feel diferent to how I felt last year.”
Part of this change is enforcing a new regimen of
‘me-time’. “Often in the middle of the day is when I’ll
have a nap and read a book. I really look forward to“As women, we
really have to
eke out time for
ourselves. This is my
year of doing that”
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