Ep#4: What wellness insights can we learn from top actor, Jamie Dornan?

probably not what you want to hear you probably want to hear all this like list and of Wellness techniques that I have you know I'm I I don't get stressed that easily um but I can start to feel the sensation of being a bit overwhelmed before I start a job and then once I start it I'm like oh this is what you do and it's fine that is really far that's so dark oh God welcome to the restorative Force podcast where we believe that it should feel good to be human Modern Life is fast-paced and often unforgiving it stresses our minds bodies and the planet more than it needs to so through conversations and ideas our aim is to uncover the road map for shifting unsustainable cultures at PACE for both personal and planetary well-being so take a deep breath and join me Hannah Pang as we explore the path towards restoration and regeneration for ourselves and the world around us welcome to the restorative Force podcast my name is Hannah Pang and today I'm here with Jamie Dornan who you will know from shows like the tourist and the fall and from films like Belfast a haunting in Venice and the infamous 50 Shades of Gray So Jamie thank you so much for being here oh very welcome um so our podcast is all about uncovering the wellness practices tips and tricks rituals of people who are at the top of their Industries at the top of their game the high performers of the world so as a very broad intro question as the successful actor you are what are some of the daily Wellness practices that keep you perform pering to the level that you do they probably change a lot to be honest with you Hannah like I I you know you go through different phases in your life don't you where you're sort of uh treating yourself better maybe or not and I'm probably much more conscious like we all are these days about you know well-being and our own sort of personal health I also have three kids under the age of 10 or under the age of 11 and their Wellness is kind of more crucial to me a priority than mine yeah and I often and sort of put my own Wellness aside for for them and that's almost like a time thing as well you know we get up in the morning and it's Madness in our kitchen whilst we get these three people ready for school and fed and watered and the right shoes on the right bag the the the football boots the ballet kit whatever whatever it is like putting all that together and then sometimes you leave the door and realize that you have not even had like a sip of water yourself any food a coffee tea nothing and you're suddenly on the school run like kind of already exhausted we've only been up for like an hour and a half um but I tell you what we did recently be just before Christmas we put a um well no about 6 months ago we put in a a infrared sauna in our sort of house and then just before Christmas in the same room we put in a um cold plunge oh nice so I've been this very week I've been every day this week uh I've done what I'm trying to do the the Nordic cycle or whatever they call it so I'm doing like 20 minutes in the Heat and then about 4 minutes in the cold and four we have it set at four degrees so um I'm doing and that I have to do I do have to say like I feel great certainly in the immediate aftermath of it I feel like incredible um what it's doing longevity white I have no idea but like uh it feels amazing I have to say and I feel very lucky that we've got the setup in the house now that we we can do this so um and then sometimes just timing thing again if have a busy day I don't have time for the S I'll just jump in the cold plunge for a few minutes and yeah I feel pretty great amazing yeah it's a doesn't have to take long no it doesn't no I mean also you can do it in the shower too like people you know but it's harder to do it in the shower because just the way the water's hitting you it's quite aggressive and it's you know with cold water it's not a nice way to experience it whereas this you like you know you very calmly sort of sink yourself in and it's still water and you're just surrounded by it and you just breathe and where the way the sh comes out it's sort of panic IND juing in its very nature of the way it's coming at you yes um so and the same if you know uh if you jump in the water you kind of in cold sea or you have to sort of move around so much but like and I haven't done since we've had the plung I haven't been in like a cold like body of water like a big body of water and I don't know if I'll be I wonder will I be able just be really calm like I am in this in this thing or will I have to like panic and like try to keep warm um but yeah I love it but obviously I mean that is a recent thing yeah and for you know I'm in my 40s and I uh many many years had no no experience like that and and wellness wasn't really on my particularly my 20s wasn't in my Consciousness probably yeah just the success came naturally well I mean yeah I mean look I think there's lots of examples of people have Tak no care of themselves who have success is true in lots of Realms too but obviously for your own mental health and and Longevity and health you know generally and energy and everything it pays to look after yourself and but again everyone's you know it's taken a while for the collective to to get there really you know um um so some people were ahead of the curve obviously but um I feel no there's collectively more of a thing of like oh no you should look after yourself you know yeah definitely but I've always been a very active person like I would never have gone through a period of inactivity okay you know even in my 20s I probably like drinking too much and stuff but I still I would I died I would have gone a day without exercise you know ever yeah really and what's what are your like go-to exercise routines that changes too you know in my 20s I ran all the time I I come from quite a sporty background I guess you could say very sporty at school and for a couple years after school uh when I first moved to London stuff still I was still playing rugby and uh and I yeah I did a couple of half marathons and stuff my 20 s ran I was running a lot um uh and I probably wasn't sort of lifting weights or doing that sort of stuff even though my entire 20s well most of my 20s I I was a model I was probably should have been at the gym more but I was just not I just I never really took it that seriously I guess I didn't really do too much um I did whatever the bare minimum was um but no I had go a gym more you know i' sort of uh with my job now and for the last 15 years whatever sometimes you I have to get in very good shape for certain roles or whatever B bigger or Slimmer I'm always having to sort of uh adapt my regime I guess Fitness wise to suit whatever character I'm playing yeah um and that's sometimes means like pushing heavy things around a lot uh and the thing I'm starting soon was um hasn't been release sh so I'm probably not to talk about it but um yeah I have to be in pretty good Nick for that so these days I'm yeah I'm in the gym well four or five days a week probably and and then yeah a r of golf if I can sneak it in there so yeah always good for the mental health as well yes and good to spend time Outdoors yeah I mean listen I spend my life defending golf because people who don't understand it they really don't understand it and my argument is like I like being outside and I like being with my mates and I like a bit of competition so golf's like a really perfect Sport and as a game the endless Pursuit and challenge of it as an actual game is will I'll never be bored of it yeah yeah yeah I have not got into golf myself I have been to from Vancouver you some good golf up there I know and i' I've been to um top golf a couple of times I've actually never done that I'm just I'm not good I mean I know I need to practice Yeah it's very hard to be naturally good at golf me some people are naturally good yeah I'm not one of the people like at all I work very hard at it I'm still pretty rubbish but um I'm obsessed with it but yeah just get a couple of lessons yeah it is a great thing to do yeah yeah no I'm not I'm definitely not opposed to it okay so back to some of your workout routines for roles what has been like the most kind of grueling intense workout situation that you've had to do in order to prepare for a role uh I think probably for all the 50 Shades because you know I'm my top off a lot probably and uh you know had to be yeah in good in good Nick I mean the the character was always talking there talked in the books about how obsessive he was about Fitness and and vanity and you know and that sort of stuff so uh I got that job very like only like a couple of like what four weeks before we started filming five weeks so uh I usually you'd know advance that you're playing a character like that and you would act accordingly and you'd be in the gym every day for those months and months uh that was probably a period where I yeah I've been surfing a lot so I must have been decent enough [ __ ] but like I sudden I was like Jesus I have to work quite hard here and that was um well what the I remember a lot about the the sort of routine of it um we had a baby also 3 days before we started filming our first baby in Vancouver so it was very mad life-changing time anyway and I tried to do it that like anytime the baby woke up beside us at night I would have a protein shake so good routine to get into it was yeah and she'd be up a couple of times and my wife would have to feed her and I'd be like oh it's a good time for me to go and so we were having really I was having really broken sleep the entire day of that that first film and uh but I was getting a lot of protein in um and I'd sort of get back into my you know into our bed my wife just smell of like strawberry milkshake I'm sorry I don't I don't know what to do I brush my teeth after guess anyway yeah was a lot of a lot of that of just trying to put the weight on you know uh cuz I was probably a bit skinny went before but um yeah and then they had a like a a workout trailer a whole gym trailer for Dakota and I that we could use you know as and when and we had a trainer there like our back and call so there was a lot of a lot of work for that for like a lot of physical stuff for that too that sounds like a very intense time it was Matt how how did you handle it like from like a mental emotional standpoint that's a lot of big changes and not a lot of sleep in a short amount of time I don't know you just muddle through don't you I'm I'm a real like um I I will say this like I am someone who I could sleep for 17 minutes on cold external stairs in the snow and I'd be fine the next day like I'm not one of those people who needs like oh get your eight hour sleep or you know I really I'm like um I'm a real I've got I don't know this might change the older I get but my dad was the same and uh so I don't think it will change but I'm a really like I can always find energy like I've always got energy I'm I'm quite quite hyper energy often and I so I've always got this thing where uh you know someone's if I'm after some mad trip and I'm going to have a lay over here I'm always like that's fine I i' be fine cuz I don't need that much to have a fulfilled day the next day or or convince myself that I'm okay yeah that is very lucky yeah no I am no I do I I realize that I realize that um and then sometimes when I'm tired like I can't really shut down I'm like exhausted but um it doesn't happen that often wow great yeah and what about like nutrition and what you eat does that affect you at all like how mindful of you are are you of what you're eating and does it change with you know different like roll preparation yeah I mean again if there's stuff where it often become like I'm either trying to bulk up put weight on or not and if I am then it's like shakes and then it's brine rice and you know grilled chicken and broccoli and stuff and uh it's not that exciting um but no like I have to admit I'm not someone who's ever super conscious about what they eat I probably should be more but I eat pretty well anyway you know we we we as a family and my wife and I as a couple would would eat well I guess and uh I guess from one to another way like we're in a nice you know economically we're in a nice position where we can buy very nice produce from very nice places and know that that you know meat has come from it's this Farm you know we live in the cwoods we live in the country for seven years and we're literally getting our meat and vegetables for everything come from yeah honestly like you know our milk literally came from The Neighbor Next Door and stuff uh in little glass bottles he'd like I'd hear him like tinkling around outside um so I think we're kind of lucky there I feel like we we do eat well but also like I'm you know I'm I'm a cuz since we've been back in London like I'm a big fan of delivery you know I um so but I always I know I have a very high metabolism and I always have um again I know that's a a fortunate thing I feel very lucky there um I would I'm someone who'd really struggled to put on weight like I really would have to work very hard like if I if I was not training if I wasn't going to the gym and I was like drinking Guinness all day and eating ice cream I I know this is probably tough for people here but I I would lose weight yeah I have to work very hard to keep muscle mass on and stuff um and I find that really annoying thing in my life I have to say uh I'm someone who's always wanted felt like the skinny kid wanting to be bigger so um so but I know most people are like [ __ ] you that's like what the dream so yeah I um I know of a very high metabolism so I I I know I can get away with right sometimes I just want you know 36 chicken wings and like you know truffle fries and big two lit bottle of coc well whatever you know I like to pick out sometimes and you know I'm I probably um I probably should watch what I eat more but I but as I say not generally I think I probably eat much better than the average person in the street you know I think we give ourselves such a hard time about that and actually the reality is lots of people eat rubbish all the time you know and I I really don't comparatively think yeah fair enough um and for when you have kind of a big role coming up or if there's a big event or like a daunting scene coming up is there anything in particular that you do like that morning ahead of it to I don't know just like hype yourself up a little bit like do you have anything to like make sure that you you know are performing to the level that you want to be performing at like that day uh I think music's a good thing there you know I've I've always been pretty Guided by music really I'm a big fan fan of Music um particularly when I was younger I have to say again it's harder now like you know my Spotify playlists are all my kids stuff you and I can't just select like random stuff on there anymore cuz it's just like I mean some I they're starting to like better music at the older they get so it's I see some decent stuff in there uh but you know for a while it was like nursery rhymes and stuff it was kind of brutal on my phone uh but yeah no I would use Music uh to get me into certain certain moods um a lot of actors do that you know a lot of them like you know just before the scene have their headphones I've never done that I've never felt I need to like have it right up until the moment that we're on camera but um I whatever works for you A lot of people do do like that but um yeah probably use Music make sure I eat I'm not a good hungry person you know I'm a real get proper hungry it's very distracting to be it really it really is like I need to have had a good feed yeah which I struggle with in the mornings I'm terrible breakfast person I'm a real I I sort of feel like I need to uh I I remember like I I I don't wake up hungry I'm not one of those people who wakes up hungry but I ate like massive lunch and massive dinner but I really struggle to have a big breakfast sometimes I'm in a hotel and someone's made it for me it arrives sure but like uh of a normal morning I I just not great about give myself a big feed morning and I know it's meant to be the most important meal of the day but I'm just a bit like couldn't be bothered with it you know yeah so even if you have like a big day of filming or something coming up will you just like force yourself to eat I will kind of force myself I actually will yeah um yeah and I'll try to put some fruit in there and some like try to get some good stuff into my system yeah um rather than you know 17 rers of bacon which I would probably do quite easily great bacon in uh in Canada Canadian bacon yeah I mean it's we're quite well known for it yeah it is it's great it's great okay anything else that you do kind of ahead of a big work day or big work event to get you in the zone no I I I I I've toyed around with meditation in the last few years um and sort of breathing technique stuff a bit um to varying degrees of success I think um but I am quite uh I'm quite good sort of on the fight you know I'm quite I I'm quite good at instinctually putting myself in in instinctively putting myself in the right place mentally I think I think I I uh it seems to be a bit of a strength that I maybe have that um I'm able to get myself up in the right way for the right thing or whatever it is you know without too many to tricks probably not what you want to hear you probably want to hear all this like list andess of Wellness techniques that I have or just like where do you think that strength came from I don't know you know I think probably my you know my parents and um my dad my dad was just uh I lost him a couple years ago but he was a very very very very definitely the most positive person I've ever met in my life so he was always able to just be up for stuff and get himself in the right place in the right mood yeah uh I I very very rarely saw my dad in a bad mood if ever genuinely genuinely mean that he was never grumpy ever so it's pretty impressive it's pretty impressive so I do I think I have an element of that yeah um yeah interesting yeah and I guess with that can you talk to us a little bit about kind of mental resilience I imagine the industry that you're in is quite a tough one yeah kind of in the public eye yeah very critical industry how do you manage to be in the thick of that all the time it's not that fun a lot of the time that aspect of it you know uh I feel really lucky that I the sort of May the bigger success stuff and the bigger um sort of uh more Global attention stuff happened late 20s early 30s when I met my wife when we were starting a family got married started a family so my entire f Focus From the time that I've had more eyes on me has been on my family that's really helpful so I'm not there in my early 20s being handed the world and going hey this is great and I'm going crawl out of clubs at 400 a.m. in LA and like deal with all of that scrutiny and whatever that would bring and all that sort of young naivity that you have and those Reckless things you do as as a kid and stuff you know I I when the spotlight has been on me I have haven't been in those those situations I guess yeah which has been really helpful I think um and like it's it's been good to me you know I'm in a I'm in a great place with everything and so I I uh I've always been really good at uh separating my work from my life I I really genuinely don't see being an actor as a like a lifestyle I say it's just my job yeah and I've got Amazing Friends in in the same industry like brilliant people that have been in my life for nearly 20 years now that I love that will be in my life until the day I fall over and stop breathing um but uh I still have the same group of mates I grew up with uh and none of them work anywhere near the entertainment industry so I think that's really benefited me personally and uh I'm able to if you stay in the noise all the time you'll be really affected by the noise I'm really good at getting away from the noise yeah and it it's really helpful that is a good skill and I think it's something that a lot of people struggle with no matter what their job is or what industry they're in is as soon as those stressful Bits Of Life start creeping in and infiltrating every other bit of your life sure that's when it's just becomes way too overwhelming no sure and then you're thinking about it all too much you know if you're only surrounding yourself with other people who talking about the same industry or whatever it's mad like cuz then you start P pitting yourself up against other people and you're think well what so what job did you say why you know why haven't I've been offered that what you know it's nonsense it's noise like you just got to be like things are good for me uh I just accept that whatever is happening and the way things are going now is is working for me yeah and just block out all of that other stuff uh which I yeah I think I've been able to do pretty well yeah nice I just wanted to take a few moments from this conversation to tell you about rain Flow State mushrooms this is our new mushroom formula with ingredients known to boost Focus energy and mental Clarity so if you struggle with brain fog with fatigue with getting distracted with feeling really stressed by just the noise of life I think you'll really love Flow State we've already been getting amazing feedback from customers who say it's been gamechanging for them both at work and at home it's all natural and made here in the UK so you can learn more about Flow State by visiting rainwell being.com and for times in at work or just in life that have been particularly stressful or particularly challenging at those kind of peak stress times yeah what can you give us some examples of what that looks like and how do you manage this that kind of stress I think I've just again I've always had in in the most heightened of those moments I've had kids honestly like all it's all our my wife and all our energy goes into those kids like you know really it's just not about me I'm just I just I don't I'm not thinking of me in those moments there's always these other three people or you know the different times when it was two of them or one of them whatever but there's always been in as I say with the timing of my where my career started really sort of happening in a sort of big way was when we started a family so I honestly I've always just been like let's not get bogged on talking about me cuz you know uh this is way more important we have these kids um I'm a big Walker like I love going out walking I think that's a really underrated um I I despise laziness like I just cannot handle it um we are as a as a as a species humans are so lazy and everything and everything that is being designed is to make us more lazy I feel like these days you know it's like all like God forbid you even drive your own car anymore and we have [ __ ] that you just they'll drive it so what's left doing nothing like I I can't stand it I really hate it um I'm going to stay as sort of analog as I can for as long as I can I really just you know um I strug you know and every how we get food and it's all just delivered your door and you know even it's like I need to pop out and get well I could just use this app and get that bring yeah someone's at your door like 10 minutes later and you're like what happened to like just popping you know so I'm I'm a bit old school like that I love walking I do think my mind clear I particularly love walking around this city I love London I love walking around London um so I always be um trying to walk places I'm really I'm the worst version of myself if I'm in the back of a car and there's traffic and I have no control over what happens yeah and that can happen a lot in London cuz traffic's bad here it's such a busy place so I'm always like if people like can we get your car I'm like no I'll get the train and I'll walk and I I just I then I feel like I'm in the control of my own destiny yeah unless there's a train strike and I'm buggered but you know like uh I like to um I love walking around with music in my ears honestly just walking around the city it's like my happy place yeah it really is and I think you just your mind just clears and just taking I'm honestly like it's like something of a you know today I got the train and I I I walked and I was like you know it's be sunny day and you're seeing buildings differently like you're seeing them for the first time I really like come like I'm in a you a music video or something sometimes um I become really aware of my surroundings I think it's so good for your mind yeah and it means you're not on your phone really if you're walking I mean you are would you're knocking into people and you're being that nightmare person who won't look up and oh my God then you're like you're going to have to look up I'm trying to but you keep you know um so I can't stand that um uh so I you know and then yeah I think if if I'm back in the car then you just sit on your phone don't you and I think that's really uh yeah the phone thing gets me I'm um I I can't handle it yeah and really try to find ways to not be on my phone I I'm walking a really good way I know I know my music is coming from my phone sure but I will literally just press B put my phone in my pocket and really try not to yeah dude look at it I am also a big Walker if some if somewhere is like takes me an hour to walk an hour is probably like my Max yeah sure but it's but anything hour and under yeah for sure I'm walking yeah I'd love to hear that it's really great and you see great different part you see the city totally differently you know and I spent you know in my 20s I spent loads of time in New York and it's it's a totally different mentality there like everyone everyone walks it's just like that's the thing and then La the opposite of that faster my whole thing is like it's always like you know hopping on the tube or hopping on the train whatever and walking will definitely get you there faster than uh toxi for sure or neighbor 100% will yeah um I just don't know yeah people are so L believe it well I feel like so something that we've been exploring a lot is how so many elements and aspects of our modern culture have forced us to live in a way that isn't optimal for how we are actually designed as living in a way that's species atypical so it us to um yeah live in ways that are just unhealthy for us because we're we're physically literally not designed to live in the ways that our modern culture uh encourages or you know sculpts us into and so many of the things that you've mentioned so like family community getting outside walking it's all stuff that is what we are like biologically PRM to to do yeah sure sure yeah I'm glad you're saying that um yeah I think you know maybe I think a some of that is down to a generational thing and the age I am and I grew up without a phone you know I am the you know last of that generation of you know uh I've went through my entire teens without a phone I think I I got one I think when I was 18 so you know my entire adolescence uh without access to that and not internet but not not really chat room you didn't know what was going on you know uh and as a result of that I think you are still very much set in that like like pre- interet sort of way of of of living yeah um where you do want to do stuff for yourself and get your hands dirty and and exert yourself rather than just have everything on apps yeah how are you approaching that with your kids obviously it's so normal now for them to have screens everywhere no we're super aware Jesus we talk about it a lot um none of them have our eldest is 10 and which doesn't have a phone yet and um of course the day will come when when she needs to have one and we'll want her to have one because she'll be you know getting the train of school what whatever it is you know um but we're not there yet but we talk about a lot and they uh ask a lot you know about when that happens you they've got iPads kind of great for traveling particularly but we don't let them look at them during the week or anything like that and they got a little bit of time at the weekends you know and then it's but we have to be good about it too you know sometimes amazing night at home like we have to set an example sometimes they're like can we go on our iPods we're like no that you're just satting your phone I'm like [ __ ] I know really got to there you know like why is it okay for us to like just be scrolling through stuff um I did delete Instagram off my phone about two days before Christmas MH and that's felt like a really good thing for me I have to say yeah cuz like everyone else guilty of just likeit sitting scrolling oh my God I was at an event the other day and they said we on average people scroll 2 kilometers worth of stuff on their phones every day but that is that's so depressing that's far that is really far that's so dark oh God yeah yeah yeah my wife and I both deleted it and she's got some other thing it's and I I'm sort of slagging her off a bit like it's a replacement that she's find but she claims it is some more sort of H it's so it's like I I I don't remember the name of the app so I'm not going to give it a plug um but they it's like curated articles that that they based on her whatever um they think that she would like um and by authors and journalists and stuff that she likes so it's actually a feed of stuff that she would be trying to be searching through all the rubbish to find but I am a bit like it is just does just keep you on your phone yeah you know so uh I've reluctant I haven't uh caved and downloaded that app um and I do think it's it is is better you know but I wish like even now when you're watching TV and stuff you can be just like it really into the show but also like check in your phone like why can't you just go I'm watching this thing for an hour and a half whatever it is put your phone away nothing but what's going to H you know you miss a call I mean you know nobody calls you anyway like who's who speaks on the phone anymore you know you miss a couple of voice notes and so yeah we should all be better that yeah agreed it's that's hard though when so much of your life is on your phone that's the thing and that often is our response to the kids it's like we're not not just like having fun on our phone guys we're not just like playing you know the like the games that they love on their iPads or whatever it's not like we're doing that I'm like booking your your ballet lesson thing on this thing you have to fill out this form or I'm you know organizing this uh I don't know birthday party and I have to pay I feel like I'm just internet banking the whole time on my phone that's all I'm doing like Daddy's paying for stuff that's what Daddy's doing paying for your life all the time but you know you you often are doing some annoying thing practical boring load of Life admin on there I'm like I'm not having I'm not playing it's not fun like this God do you have any other just thinking of like okay what if you are no longer scrolling as much on your phone now yeah what has that left you more time to do oh Ponder great I don't know if it's a great thing actually um probably I probably just being hopefully what it's doing is I'm a bit more present for the kids you know I'm my wife I'm probably um yeah I'm probably just a bit more in the room yeah cuz I'm not like uh hold on let me just watch this guy add this sauce to this barbecue and see the effect of it um you know I'm just uh that's really made me miss Instagram just think that sort of cont there is some good stuff on there great stuff that's the thing there's some great stuff you know uh and also it's really interesting then seeing like news news feels really different now when you're not seeing the stuff on Instagram cuz you're seeing Instagram that stuff on Instagram that the news outlets just wouldn't share you know I don't want to get super political here but often about whatever Madness is happening in the world and you're like whoa they're not showing this on the 10:00 news you know yes um so I feel less informed in a way without Instagram because there is a for more informative serious side to Instagram it's not all you know toies and stuff so um but so I feel like I miss out a bit on that but I do think overall it's a it's a better thing and I am more present yeah yeah and I find a lot of um what I am trying to spend more time doing and a lot of it is on my phone I have to say but is um like instead of scrolling similarly to what your wife has done like how can I just replace it with something that feels a little bit more productive so I have my you know du lingo going I'm trying to learn Mandarin and Japanese fair play WoW at the same time cheapers well I I have a trip to Japan book so it's it's very okay functional okay but is there anything but Mandarin as well as Japanese yeah so I I'm I'm half Chinese so I have this I'm like trying to connect to my roots okay and you don't know any no none would you not just like try to tackle that first and Japanese yeah I I just they must be so contrasting is that not really I I'm finding Japanese to be a lot easier than Mandarin really yeah yeah wow but I I've also just downloaded like um like brain training brain game apps that kind of thing um but my question for you is is there anything else that you're doing where you're I don't know like learning something or uh I don't know any other kind of like Hobbies or anything like that that you feel are like fulfilling of your time probably not fair enough you're buy sorry to say um I'm starting a big long job soon and uh so I have a thing also I I get a real that guilt thing if I am if I'm reading like a book or I'm like learning a language I'm never learning a language but like when I'm reading a book and it's not for work but I know the next job I'm doing I I I it doesn't sit right I'm like oh this is bad I should be just like doing character research and like my job even though I don't start filming for a couple of months whatever it is so I'm a couple of months off starting to film something though and I'm a bit like I keep getting revisions of the scripts and I'm a producer on it so I I sort of have to respond and and give notes and stuff and I'm a bit like o I can't be just doing brain games in my yeah fair enough or or reading a book that isn't related to the job yeah so I sort of beat myself up with that um I do do a weird thing I I at least every two years certainly every year I do an IQ test really I don't know why my dad was really into like IQ it's such a strange way of measuring I know people it's it's it feels like it's a dying thing where people talk about like your IQ I haven't heard of that in ages yeah it's not really a thing but like d my dad was really into it I guess and dad had a extremely high IQ Professor medicine was a very impressive person and I um yeah I I don't know for some reason like he sort of implanted it in my head like when we were kids maybe my sisters and I about like the importance of like a good I do you do you study for it or no cuz it's all sequence stuff okay you know and we we did a thing they have it here and they had it in Northern Ireland like at 11 plus we have to pass this exam to get into secondary school and in my day it was a you got a 1 two three or four one being the best and it thank God somehow I got a one but it was um essentially an IQ test okay like the 11 plus is that's kind of what it was see you know sequences and um and looking at charts and uh diagram sometimes and and trying to connect things and what's missing and it's kind of a and also a lot of people's brains don't work in that way don't work well in that way so that's why it's a bit of a slightly redundant test maybe CU people are like well there's probably way better ways of judging intelligence in saying that and there so many different types of intelligence totally oh totally totally totally I mean I think a lot of this the way that exams are in school is a terrible way to judge intelligence you know memory test stuff who just wanted to remember all that stuff they were taught or the stuff they read in the book um I mean some of the stupidest people I've ever met did very well on the levels and went to like great un and genuinely like not bright MH and then some of the most interesting impressive and intelligent people I've met did really badly at school so I I don't there's no perfect way I don't think to measure intelligence I guess an IQ test is just one of those ways and for whatever reason it's uh it's been a part of my life so sometimes just often when I'm away if I'm away filming and I'm away from the family and know I try to get back every weekend or if I'm away somewhere far they come with me like can Vancouver for a long time Australia they come with me La but um uh yeah I'll do an IQ test every every probably every 18 months every two years really interesting I don't know anyone else always get the same score do it's well that's good yeah so I'm not it's a good way of going like I'm not losing it you know I'm not getting stupider yeah great yeah I'm probably I'm just probably done the same test over and over again I'm like this looks familiar yeah you've just memorized it now I mean that's all good what else do you do like in preparation so in this period kind of before you go into a new project what else is involved with that oh God just lots of um fear and trying to convince yourself that you know you're the right guy I guess there's a lot of self-concn um yeah I think it's something you battle all the time I think you know actors are way more self-conscious than I I believe people believe them to be I I think um you meet some very confident actors of course but like um and we all have ways of portraying confidence uh but I think we're all fearful that it's all going to the rug's going to be pulled from under us at any point you know you hear a lot of actors say that sort of thing imposter syndrome and everything um but yeah no I mean the just it's a lot of work yeah I can just find myself you know I'm I I don't get stressed that easily um but I can start to feel the sensation of being a bit overwhelmed before I started a job and then once I started I'm like oh this is what you do and it's fine but particularly I I will have had 8 months off when I start this next job and that's the longest I've ever had off in my career and part of it cuz I want the time off uh after second series of the tourist I was bit tired and I just want the time off and then there was a strike a writer strike and an actor strike so I wasn't able to work so um that sort of En forced my decision to take this time off so as a result of that I feel like a bit like whoa Rusty like I haven't acted for a while or something uh so be a bit of that just trying to convince myself and a lot of it's really practical stuff of you know just character stuff and trying to get your head around um tricky project to talk about when it hasn't been announced anyway uh and there's a physicality thing going on with with uh the character that I need to work quite a specific thing because of a sort of uh a sort of activity they do or sport they do I guess that so it's quite particular the sort of Fitness I need to be doing but I've started doing recently um and then it's learn Jesus it's learning lines it's like that that sort of slug of of line learning uh which uh I don't I change I sort of change my method for line learning almost job to job really yeah I find certain things certain times things seem to work for me better and then next time I try that it doesn't work so well does it depend on like the role and the character and like who the character is maybe sometimes depends I think if I'm like doing an accent and stuff too so manages to creep its way into high I learn my lines it's it's strange it's a strange thing so I never have one set way I you know I probably have it's either one of two or three ways um uh and it's also often dependent on like how much that look I have sometimes I'm talking a lot you know and look I'm again very lucky but like I'm I'm often the lead in these things or the co- lead so I just a lot of work to do you know a lot of uh big stuff you know so yeah get my head R out I guess do you have any a random one do you have any like memory tips no cool sorry I don't uh no uh what like eating spinach or something no no is it just like are you literally just like going through it like over and over and over again yeah yeah I think so I think that seems to to work for the trick yeah yeah and then it's you it'll if you often what I find I go you know you get some actors who won't look until they're in the makeup trailer that morning they L yeah yeah like very big actors who like won't learn their lons until the day of and because they wanted they wanted to be fresh you know cuz you want to have the whole idea is trying to sell this idea that we are these people we've never said these words before so you are trying to keep a freshness and I get that to a point I I am quite an instinctual actor and I don't like to go in with a great deal of a plan often slightly again depending on what what I'm dealing with um I wanted to feel like something drops St in the moment that I can use um and uh so yeah but so I but actually often when I go to find myself like again if also if you're busy and you're the lead or whatever you're pretty much in every day often you are in every day and often all day every day and um it's just a timing thing sometimes and like say you've got a massive week of dialogue you just haven't had the time to to to to know it all really well often so often the night before I'll go to look at something and then I'll go oh actually I do know this I've obviously been looking at it in some sort of panicky way on and off for weeks right and you go to go oh god I've got the big scene tomorrow let me let me look at you go no I know it I know this um so it's often by you've done more work than you think you have if you're prepared um you know I guess not getting hammered every night stuff would probably be a good idea does usually help your memory a bit you know but I don't get um uh again probably something to annoy people listening I don't really I don't get hangovers um again I think it's a slightly D to my metabolism or whatever I really um my dad again Dad never got them good jeans I don't get them yeah I'm lucky my sisters get them so I don't know I got really lucky there that is quite lucky it sounds like when you were talking about you know the actors who just you know can take it on in the moment we've been doing a lot of research recently into like being in a flow State yeah sure of just kind of you know being um kind of unhindered by I don't know any unhelpful conditioning or just like really being your like highest most like true authentic self and when you can connect with that you do just show up you know better and like as you need to and you perform at the levels that you need to because you're in your flow it that kind of sounds like what you were describing yeah and we've all experienced that haven't we at some level and I always I've had I have days like that where I'll just like have like a coffee meeting and I'll be in that state and I'll just be like and I feel like so yeah and I'm really like like always like go like write down what you had like what you've eaten already today like how many coffees you whatever it is and it seems that when I've done that there's no pattern whatsoever I'm like trying to put it like how much sleep did I have what did I have for dinner last night uh you know what time did I get up what did I eat this morning did I have a coffee did not and it's always it's felt quite random to me when I've tried to kind of log that um I know I I'd love cuz it's an amazing feeling and um I've been writing more and more recently in the last few years writing scripts and stuff and uh when I'm in that that flow State when you're writing it's un you feel like super man like it's incredible yes it's you know really it suddenly just feels really easy and is just coming at you it's like and you do find that acting sometimes you have these moments where it's just like maybe it's for one take you just feel like really Invincible but it's harness ing that I've been able to be like gets me there repeatable like what's the formula for it yeah we've been um we've been thinking about it a lot recently we've um we've just developed uh like a mushroom capsule and the like formula of it the purpose of it is to help you get into your Flow State and like how to connect with it so it can be something that yeah feels a little bit more reliable rather than just crossing your fingers and hoping you'll find your flow that day also I feel like it'll be you know there's it's a bit different for everyone um and even something like that like the what like a capsule like two might work for someone and one might work and body size comes into it and all that my wife said that to me the other day like she said like do you ever think about like just um sort of recommended sort of intake of like tablets and stuff they should really vary more you know yeah got like some six fo 6 men taking the same dosage as like a 5' one woman bodies are very different yeah chances are they're going to behave differently in their systems you know totally but here we are going what does it say it says take two okay it'll take two yeah two might be like there was um there was a really great book that was talking about this I think it's called Invisible Woman and it's basically how our our world is built for like the average man and how like medications uh different types of like treatments even like the design of seat belts is all based on like an average man and so that's why women get like hurt and like don't get proper treatment more often yeah and crash that dummies and stuff are probably just like man weight yeah exactly it's really dark yeah Jesus CH so anyways that's that's a whole other issue God yeah that's a big one to solve but yeah for sure she give it a go yeah it's terrible getting back to our yeah Flow State I think for me what I found is it so often comes when you're like doing what you're supposed to be doing like what you were put on this planet to do and when that aligns the universe is like okay cool you you figured it out that's that's one do you find I don't know did you always feel like you had uh like a calling or like does work like provide that sense of you know purpose for you yeah I don't know I don't see it that way I don't think I I I've certainly never felt that I had a calling and it it certainly wasn't performing I I don't think so in saying that I mean when I was younger I had lots of moments where I performed I was like this feels great and I'm getting a nice people seem to respond well to this um on some level I guess yeah but uh I've certainly never been like I've just got to perform I've got to be on that stage I was just not how I was how I was in my mind when I was younger um again I just see it as something that I think I can do and it's been good to me and it's a job and you know I love it I really love it um but um I don't not convinced it was like my calling set in the Stars no yeah fair enough I could have really easily been doing something else and maybe even been better at that I don't know but look I'm sitting here from I've been really nice I've had a really great run and so I'm like I'm in a good place with it but um I think I probably also been really happy doing other stuff too like uh I have lots of Interest outside of the Arts yeah was there something else that you like as a kid like what did you want to be when you grew up sport like I'm obsessed with sport like I'm really really obsessed with sport um I I wasn't good enough to play I was I'm a good Sportsman I was a good Sportsman you know still try to convince myself I can barely walk today I played five aside on on on a few days ago for the first time in two months and uh realized that my body doesn't like it anymore um uh but uh yeah I I'm sort of sports mad that I I feel like uh yeah probably even with all the work in the world wasn't good enough to play professionally anything but you know I'm I'm I would have been decent a lot of sports yeah um but I probably would have wanted to find my way into working in sport in some some way yeah football your go-to no rugby would have been my my main sport on and uh rugby and golf really n um but there's I'm big football soccer fan yeah I mean I'm there's wouldn't be many sports that I wouldn't have a pretty Keen interest on and wouldn't have a lot of knowledge on reality wise um so I thought you know I probably one of those kids who watch Jerry McGuire and thought that looks like the coolest job in the world um um and obviously ended up nowhere near that um in my vocation but I um I've got to meet a lot of cool sports people I bet yeah yeah I um I've only very recently gotten interested in rugby okay good right but there was a I think it was like November December I would I was watching like every rugby game oh wow well so the World Cup was on yeah that was it yeah that was why that's that's the reason I was like all or nothing I had no interest in rugby and then all of a sudden I had to watch every game I'm going to watch the game tomorrow yeah Six Nations yeah well I there's irand are playing tonight in the I don't know when obviously this will go out after that but Ireland France is open winning Six Nations tonight and the two the two favorite teams for the title okay I'll tune in and we we won AR won the Grand Slam last year and I was there for that in Dublin which was a pretty fun long day yeah I bet yeah yeah um okay kind of Switching gears but also thank you about enjoyable fun times what's your favorite way to decompress after a long day or a stressful day of filming or working I love a bath aming big fan of a bath yeah me too it's quite the divisive it seems a lot of people don't like yeah a lot of people are just wallowing in your own dirt and stuff people have really weird I've met people like oh God I can't believe you do a bath um and also if they're so worried about they like have a quick shower first I it's probably water wastage people be but like I don't know like also I'm not I'm not filthy wallowing in your own dirt it's such a weird thing to say like as if we get I don't work down the mines like I'm not I'm not that what I'm talking just about like noral day yeah I'm not I'm not muddy um but yeah uh I do I do like a bath and I do you know like proper like nice smelly stuff in the bath bath salts yeah I do all that and EPs and salts sometimes if my body's a bit sore if I'm been doing a lot of stunts at work or whatever or if I've been playing sport football whatever my body sore um yeah I'm a big fan of that and I'll do like a podcast or or well I was filming second season season of a tourist in Ireland uh last year and I did um try to prop my iPad up in the bath to watch whatever you know series or whatever I was watching and um I'm usually pretty good at that I do that quite a lot I often like sort of bring my laptop or an iPad or something and have it by the bath so I can sit and watch something yeah and uh yeah I dropped my iPad and straight in the bath and and and broke it only just replaced it actually there a couple that is one of the dangers of doing that I it was really I was so prary I was watching going that's really stupid the way you set that up like that won't work and then of course it it's slid in it slid in at this like key Point what was I WatchON succession or something I don't know like some like tense moment anyway um yeah I do I'm a big fan of a bath and a walk like I'll go I'll go for a big walk and and a bath and um you know but also it depends where I'm filming and if my family are there and whatever but if I film if I I'm filming in the summer somewhere and I'm near a golf course and I finish work at like a reasonable time like 600 or 7 I will get out and try to play at least nine holes of golf yeah that be really good for my head yeah is there anything else you do um on swimming when I was when I sorry when I was in Dublin I swam loads like I'm I wouldn't be historically a huge swimmer I guess but um I had a in the apartment I was in in Dublin a really nice pool and nobody used it so I'd just be in there yeah just really like properly swimming doing lengths and lengths and lengths um yeah actually find that really good for my mind yes my partner is an avid swimmer and he says that as well it's it's basically like meditation because you have to focus so much on breathing I only got into swimming last year I did my first triathlon and it was the first time I had to like fair play I had to first time I had to like proper swim not just like vacation swim so he had to like teach me how to like how to do it yeah exactly so I had to like learn how to breathe and swim and you do have to be like really quite mindful yeah big time and I think there's even a level up like definitely from what I'm doing my brother-in-law is a like swam for Ireland and stuff like he's a genuinely brilliant swimmer um and I keep trying to you know so many kids now in in both of our Lives my sister and him uh when when I'm with him and we're by the pool I'm always trying to like get him to to teach me a we bit it's usually I'm throwing kids up in the air and being tortured so um I I don't quite get to but I'd Love Actually him to really teach me to do the breathing properly and get more out of it and get not have to breathe so much and you know all that stuff and because it is a from the little I've done of it I do feel like it's really good thing I also feel like it's a really good thing for like your back strength and your core and everything like keeping yourself strong wrong I've been having a real issue in the last 6 months I put my back out twice and it totally derails you like I'm I'm talking like one time it was a week which wasn't that bad and the last time it was three weeks of like and I was I really fell into a bit of a depression if I'm totally honest with you I was really I'm not someone whose inactivity does not suit me like I hated it that I wasn't able to just like bounce around and like carry the kids and do all that stuff or train or do exercise I couldn't do anything it was really bothering me and it do it's always the same it's lower left it just seems to go out a lot and it seems to be like if I play football is the thing area so I'm trying to find ways of making that a bit stronger cuz I'm strong like I can I feel strong in the gym and stuff but I seem to have a weakness there and I know a lot of people talking about Pilates and about that being a really great you know yes very good stab all of that yeah for sure so I might do that I just those machines freak me out a bit plot they they're very hard it's really hard crazy yeah have you been to like a reformer plot reform class my wife goes my wife goes by three times a week to plot reformer yeah hard gnarly yeah yeah yeah Give It Go um is there anything else that you do for like like physical like recovery um now that we have this ice bath thing you know that's kind of like even I have to say the difference of my back cuz you know play soccer football whatever the other night and was really in because it been a bit of a shock it been a couple mons my body was not happy with me it was going your 41 stop chasing that ball around um and I my back was sore really sore yesterday morning and then I've done two days of sauna and ice bath and the difference today is incredible I really do you know I also had the foam roller out earlier and I was like the pain of that bloody thing anyway I do think that there's some credit there for the for the hot and the cold that is has helped my back in the last 24 hours so yeah totally yeah um yeah yeah okay last question for you um so again so much of what we are thinking about talking about trying to create solutions for is to help people live optimally to how we are designed how our minds and bodies are designed um but what does optimal living or an optimal day yeah what would that look like for you I think up pretty early if I can get up before the kids wake up it's good I love waking them up yeah it's like my favorite thing um often you don't have to to be honest I'm usually waking us up but there's occasionally where they're like lying in a bit um and I love waking them up um let's just take a normal like a school day uh getting them to school in a way where they we've given given them the best that they could have in that time a lot it in the morning and they they're happy to go into school is really critical for us it changes our whole day if we send them into school and they're like buzzing and that is often not the case because they often fight with each other the whole way into school and pulling each other's hair it's a nightmare it can be a real nightmare they don't want to do the football match they have to do that they compulsory football match have to do they know so it's often chaotic but if we can get them into school and good that just makes our day so much easier then I think I like to have then have a breakfast cuz I've I feel like I've earned it thing I said earlier about I don't wake up hungry yeah but if I build up an appetite um then I really will enjoy like a bigger breakfast so I'll try to eat go to the gym cuz I I I actually just have to like I have to do that I will try to then spend some time with my wife doing the most boring thing ever it's like going through or diary that's kind of like a big part of marriage it's like our long relationship it's especially with kids it's like navigating it's a lot of coordination are you going to take them there you and she's got that at that time okay well she's got that at that time so I can take her that like that's a big part of our daily life getting that done really need to I set aside time for like personal admin I really am someone better like I become really good at as soon as I get an invoice paying it straight away like just dealing with stuff in the immediate immediacy I think it's really important cuz even if it's the smallest thing if you let it linger you know even like replying to text so I try to be really good about getting all that stuff done on my head so clear um in a really perfect day I would do a clear out of my wardrobe I'm I am the most smug person in the world after I've done a clear out of the Wardrobe and I do a lot I'm really good and there's some charity shops that benefit massively for me let me tell you where and where we live I'm like here we go the boot is full S free whatever so a lot of stuff I you know hasn't even been opened I'm like you go sell that um uh yeah um big launch if I can sneak to the driveing range and hit some golf balls I'm a happy boy and then it's picking up the kids and you know trying to be there and be really present for them and listen to their day and listen to their worries uh of often there's plentyful am there feed them try to spend some get them to bed happy and then try to spend some quality time with with my wife and uh eat eat well watch something on TV and get an early night that is probably it sounds like a good day it's uh there's not that much going on it's a lot of sort of practical stuff isn't it but like that is kind of what our days are made up of you know I'd like to have a day that's more indulgent um you know um yeah what would an indulgent day look like i' just be playing golf all day yeah Fair okay I really would yeah but yeah there's a few things in there I just need to do you know exercise being one of them just like keep you at a good Baseline yeah yeah yeah you don't want to be around me if I haven't um had the opportunity to exert myself in a gym or running after a ball or walking slowly towards a ball or whatever like whatever it is like I am I've just I've known that about myself from a very young age today um a lot of people are like that aren't they they need I sleep better and everything everything um so yeah but and crucially an early night cuz you know we're getting up to The Madness of the kids again every day yeah yeah amazing well thank you so much for being so generous with your time and your thoughts yeah thank you thanks very much for being here okay good thank you thanks thanks for listening to the restorative podcast make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode and if you enjoyed this episode please leave us a Reading and Review and share it with a friend you can follow us at rainwell beinging on Instagram and at Tik Tok thanks so much and see you next time

Channel: A RESTORATIVE FORCE from RAIN Wellbeing

Views: 18,501

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Id: ilDXj37LtOo

Length: 65min 10sec (3910 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2024