A Little Foresight

'You can do anything but you can't do everything' this is a quote from one of Annas friends which she found really helps her and particularly helped when she was making huge changes in her life in 2015. In 2015 Anna was working in what many would call a good pensionable job, she was the Cork Camogie Captain and was living in Cork when she made the decision to leave her job, retire from Camogie and move to Dublin and she hasn't looked back. Anna would tell people not to live the life that people think you should. That if she could get rid of the word should from our vocabulary she would and how we all need to forget judgement both of ourselves and others. Anna also says that  failure isn't a weakness it's showing you have the courage to give it a go. She would tell her younger self - 'Don't try and be a second class version of anyone else, be a first class version of yourself. Anna also asks what would you do in the morning if social media was gone? I'm incredibly thankful to Anna Geary for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to talk to me on A Little Foresight. I loved chatting to her.

On this episode of A Little Foresight which I recorded in late 2021 I chat to Angeline Ball a fabulous Actor and Singer who is currently on our screens starring in Deadly Cuts and Hidden Assets both of which are amazing and have started 2022 by being taken on by International channels and streaming services giving them the massive reach they deserve. Angeline has a huge body of work and is very well known in Ireland particularly for starring in The Commitments and The General. She chats about how now she likes being recognises as Imelda her character from The Commitments even 30 years later but when she was younger she found it harder and tried to shake that character slightly. Angeline tells me loads of things she would say to her younger self including never say never, that it is never too late to do something you want to. To have more confidence in herself, to be less of a people pleaser and not to be afraid to speak her mind. Keep following your dream and don't give up, if you fall off a horse 9 times get back on 10. How she always calls singing a vocal gin and tonic.How she encourages her kids to talk. How scary social media can be. That is can be ok to shut the curtains both literally in your house and figuratively on social media, that you don't have to share everything with the world if you don't want to.That we should turn the volume down on the negative inner dialogue we have with ourselves. She talks about how that it doesn't matter wherever your name is on a cast list be it 1st or 50th it takes everyone in the cast and crew to make a production work. How awful us women can be to ourselves and how it is so important for us to compliment and give credit to other women. That she wishes we would learn how to accept ourselves much younger in life and many other things. I absolutely loved talking to Angeline and could have done it for hours!

'Don't just conform go with your instinct' trusting your gut instinct is one of the topics the fabulous Dr Rachel Mackey talks about on this episode of A Little Foresight. Rachel is a true wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area of Womens Health and kindly gives loads of brilliant (and free!!) advice to us on the podcast. She has worked in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Ireland and Australia for over 20 years. She's a no BS, gives you full and sometimes frank details about your health style of Doctor which I love, I find it both refreshing and helpful as someone who has had many Womens Health issues which have often either been dismissed, minimised, ignored, misdiagnosed or incorrectly explained to me. She runs the Womens Health Clinic in Dun Laoghaire, is a mum of 4 wonderful children, has a fierce competitive streak and is very funny.Rachel talks about career, family, life and Womens Health. She tells us how in relation to fertility it is very important to both know your options and also relax. To know your options and get informed.She talks about how different it was for her male counterparts when she was first training but how she thankfully feels that has slightly evened out and also how she wouldn't worry as much about things and to release control a bit as in the end she went down a different path entirely to what she thought in both her career and personal life. Before I even recorded my first episode of A Little Foresight I had asked Rachel to have a chat with me on it, actually it was even before I had fully settled on the exact format and theme. Then after my first episode where I spoke about what I would tell my younger self I had a huge amount of reaction from many women in relation to the areas of Womens Health that I discussed so it cemented even further to me how much I wanted to have her on. 

Crossy is an award winning radio presenter and producer on Dublins FM104, he's a reporter/presenter at many red carpets in London and Europe who's delighted to be back travelling again and he also runs the always sold out Bingo Loco events. Crossy works very hard supporting many Charities, quite altruistically. We chat about him being involved with a number of charities including Jigsaw, Run In The Dark and the Mater hospital, there's a particularly poignant moment talking about the chairs near the Mater Oncology department. One thing he would tell his 16 year old self is to be who you are. Growing up in Navan he felt like there were no other gays there. We chat about how when someone is coming out they can build up many different scenarios in their heads as to how it may happen.We also talk about his sea swimming and the dry robe versus non dry robe wearers.We share a love of food and chatting about it so obviously that was a topic we discussed including 'funeral soup' as he calls it.  Crossy and the others in FM104 absolutely helped keep me and many others entertained and connected during the height of the pandemic and always comes across as such a lovely and genuine person. I loved chatting to him so much it felt like we chatted for about 10 minutes but it was closer to an hour! I'm so grateful to him for taking the time to talk to me on A Little Foresight.

Business person extraordinaire Gillian Fitzpatrick chatted to me in June about many aspects of her life and what she would tell her younger self if she could, including this excellent piece of advice - "Don't de-prioritise the building blocks to get to your dream". Instant gratification has become quite a thing over the last number of years but life mostly never works out that way. Gillian chats about readjustment and balance; how the pandemic has made many people including herself look at their lives differently and make some changes. We speak about her new business Bolter Media!We talk about the importance of physical activity from many different aspects including the mental health benefits and the grounding of a sporting background in relation to responsibility and scheduling.How it's important to value your worth, to get your finances in order and get comfortable talking about money. We talk about her amazing 'girl group' of friends and we both speak about our love of the Lanai Blo hairdryer. Oh and my dog Bella joins us as an uninvited guest!

Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Blogger Louise Cooney talks about many things including how giving up on her NYC life was actually the best thing for her and how she is so happy now. How the 8 months she had at home gave her a whole new outlook and appreciation for life and her family. How she loves Ireland (not the Irish weather though). How important it is to go easier on yourself, that there's no need to always hustle. How important it is to be aware of our digital footprint.The importance of balance and how focusing purely on numbers in relation to fitness makes you very unhappy. She has learned not to compare herself and her body to how she used to be and in particular that there were times in her life when she looked incredible in photos (as she always does) but was not happy in life.We also talk about mental health and how important it is to talk and reach out.

Football legend and one of mine and many other peoples sporting hero Paul McGrath chats honestly to me about football, friends, family and loving life at the moment.  He relives those matches and moments playing for Ireland in Euro 88, Italia 90 and USA 94. We chat about his amazing footballing career from Pearse Rovers to St Pats to The Premiership. He talks about how much he loved and misses both his fabulous Mum Betty and Jack Charlton and how much he wants to see and be able to hug his family and friends again soon. I was captivated listening to him talk and I'm sure you will be too. I'm incredibly grateful and incredibly lucky to have chatted to Paul as he is not someone who does a lot of these things. Thanks a million Paul.

My fabulous guest (& friend) Rosanna Davison talks about everything from her Sliding Doors moment, vommy babies and sperm shaped eyebrows to fertility struggles and pregnancy loss. An honest and real chat with one of the loveliest people I know.