Deborah Veale
You’re juggling, you’re a mom and you’ve got to be the best at what you do, and you want respect for that
Fashion designer
Be present in your life. I spent most of my 20s and 30s being so driven. You’re juggling, you’re a mom, you’re busy, and you’ve got to be the best at what you do, and you want respect for that. That’s perfectly normal, and that’s OK. But while you’re doing all of that, you’re sometimes not sitting back and looking at it. You’re not benefiting.
I’m not saying pat myself on the back, but if I have affected something in a positive way, or I’ve made some progress, I’ll be able to say to myself, ‘OK, this is good’. Instead of us all going, ‘What can I do, can I jump higher?’ Pace yourself.
My daughter, Sorcha, is independent and a different kind of person to me. She’s both creative and pragmatic. Looking at it with me as a 58-year-old, her as 36-year-old, my advice now, with my hard-earned wisdom, would be different to what I would have said to her even 10 years ago.
The biggest thing I would say to anybody going into that phase of your life is be present in it. Love it. And if you don’t love it, do something about it. Now, I know I’d like to be in my 80s and not ask, where did all that time go?
Back yourself. That’s very difficult because we’re in a very busy, noisy environment. It’s about taking the time for yourself, be able to sit with something. For me, it goes back to creativity; when I’m in the flow of a creative thing, I’m not thinking about anything. It’s as close to meditation as I can possibly get.