It's Monday, we know. QUIT YER MOANIN'. We are DONE with complaining about Mondays. Now, we're all about the #MondayMotivation. It's a new week, a fresh start, and the world's your oyster.
To lift us out of our collective post-weekend funk - it gets to the best of us at times, don't worry - over the coming weeks we'll be enlisting the help of brilliant, successful Irish women who, like most of us mere mortals, find Mondays the least fun of all the days. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Henceforth, Mondays will become a day of increased inspiration; a day when one of these equally accomplished women, who dusted off their cobwebs and carried on killing it despite the dreariest of Mondays, will motivate you to do the very same. Monday, let's be having you.
You're good enough just as you are. - Louise O'Neill
First up, we're profiling the incredibly talented Irish author Louise O'Neill, whose hugely successful book, Asking For It, in which she tackles the ever pertinent issues of consent, is so deserving of your time we're not even sure why you're reading this right now. Go, read the book! When you're done, come back for your weekly dose of #MondayMotivation, sure to help you put your best foot forward.
So, Louise, how would you describe what you do?
I make up stuff for a living. I'm basically getting paid to be a pathological liar.
The beginning of a new week can be tough. How do you start yours?
Playing the Glenroe theme tune to give myself that shit-I-forgot-to-do-my-homework feeling.
Genius. Top tips for a Monday?
Make a list of everything you need to do. Ticking completed tasks off gives me a disproportionate feeling of satisfaction.
Us too. Your Monday fear cure?
Don't drink on Sunday night.
You are Yoda. The answer to a sh*tty Monday?
Plan something fun for after work on Monday. A trip to the cinema with a friend or buy a great book. (Cough, cough)
Yes, yes, buy her book. It's really rather good. Best life advice?
Care less about what other people think of you and focus on how you feel about yourself.
Worst life advice you've been given and ignored?
“No one makes a living out of writing.”
#mindyourselfie and download an ebook about mental health with @walkinmyshoes pic.twitter.com/UH3UkQdX1C
— Louise O' Neill (@oneilllo) April 8, 2016
Pffft. Best career advice?
My parents always told me I could achieve anything I dreamed of as long as I worked hard and believed in myself.
Good parents. Keep them. Tell us about an experience when somebody said, in so many words, that you probably couldn't achieve what you want to, but then you did it anyway.
This has happened to me time and time again. From getting my job at Elle or getting my book deal, my dreams have always seemed ‘impossible’ to some people. What chance did I, the butcher’s daughter from Clonakilty, have? But, why not me? Why not the butcher's daughter?
Tell us about a time you made a mistake, big or small, and how you picked yourself up afterwards and learned from it?
I am constantly making mistakes, but I never give up. I try not even to think of them as mistakes. I hope that I learn from them and that they will help make me a better, more empathetic person.
Song you'll definitely dance to when nobody's looking?
Shania Twain's ‘That Don't Impress Me Much.'
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YAS! When you're really pissed off, you're most likely to...
Scream. It's a bit awkward in a social setting; I have a terrible poker face.
Your go-to quote when you're lacking in motivation?
"Here's a bottle of cop on, you big baby."
Your secret ingredients for motivation?
I set my intentions. This is a bit airy fairy, but I find it incredibly useful. I do it for everything but particularly when I'm writing. I'll say beforehand “I intend to focus now. I intend to allow all other concerns or worries to fade away. I intend to write 1000 words within the next three hours.”
Setting intentions are key! Mondays aren't the worst because...
I'm lucky enough to have a job that I love.
What are you doing that's good for your brain?
The best thing I do for my brain is to take ten minutes every morning and evening to meditate.
Om etc. Book that you'll always return to, and why?
Sylvia Plath's Ariel.
What makes you feel good, that doesn't cost a penny?
Hanging out with my family. They haven't started charging me yet.
A dinner dish that could make any Monday bearable?
My mother makes a truly excellent four cheese lasagne.
Four cheeses! Your top three comforts?
Scrambled eggs, a hug from either of my parents and my electric blanket.
Guilty pleasure?
Penny Vincenzi novels.
Favourite online destinations when you need a pick-me-up?
I love The Coven, The Pool, Jezebel, Lainey Gossip, The Daily Edge. And Twitter. I do love Twitter.
If you could urge women to read one piece of writing, what would it be?
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
Life motto?
You're good enough just as you are.
Louise O’ Neill's novel Asking For It was a number one bestseller and was voted Book of the Year at the BGE Irish Book Awards 2015. Asking for It is also set to hit TV screens – the television rights were recently acquired by Bandit Television, and Louise will co-write the script of this adaptation.
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