Julia Morris knows just as well as the rest of us that life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies.
Though she’s found humour in every hurdle that comes her way, the comedian, whose husband fought breast cancer in 2012 not long before she experienced a miscarriage mid-flight, has learnt some crucial lessons over the years that each and every one of us can take away from.
Below, we round up five lessons and laughs kindly passed on by the TV queen herself.
She doesn’t do people pleasing
Julia’s learnt recently to say ‘no’ more often. “If you’re going to get two children to school with good food in their lunch box and maintain a home and work, you have to cut out the people pleasing,” she explains.
“I would pick up people from the airport just because I had a free morning. I’d make other people feel comfortable while making every single second of my life so full, and I’ve really cut back on that recently.”
She’s open about menopause
“I’m honest about having passed through menopause. It was mental! The hot flushes were hard and I had a lot of aggression. I recommend getting your relationships in order before menopause.
“Now it’s passed I feel like a different human being. And my husband Dan (Thomas) feels like he has got his wife back.”
“I’ve had a lot of Botox… I’m hanging in there!” the mother of Ruby, 10, and Sophie, eight, once mused.
She has a psychologist
“I felt like I was in perimenopause for four years. I couldn’t understand why I was so angry – I’m in a happy marriage, I have beautiful, healthy, well-behaved children and my professional life is still climbing. It was my dream and I was letting it all pass me by.
“So I went to see a psychologist, and after about four sessions she said, ‘You’re not having a breakdown – you’re just really busy’. She helped me to learn cognitive behavioural therapy to break the patterns of feeling so angry and frustrated.”
Laughter is part of her everyday life
Julia is looking forward to taking her one-woman stand-up comedy show on tour this year. “It’s time to get back on the road, making people laugh face to face again,” she says.
“Laughter is part of my everyday life, though – there’s great buoyancy to laughter. It’s very good for the soul and it’s good for the environment of the people around you.”
She practises deep breathing
“I try to get somewhere 10 minutes early so I can sit in the car and listen to my meditation tapes and do some deep breathing – it doesn’t sound like much, but the quietening of the mind is incredible, and I’ve noticed a big difference by doing this.”
Keep being you, Julia!
