Pauline Scanlon: A treat for me is an evening in front of the fire and an early night

The life of a musician and spending lots of time on the road means that I often waken up in hotels and so my 'start' time can vary a lot from week-to-week. I am currently doing a degree in NUIG so I am trying my hardest to develop a very loose routine – I have begun to start my day with some deep breathing exercises and a cold shower.

I have a smoothie in the morning and usually an egg of some kind. I like a spicy breakfast on the weekend – I might have a shakshuka or maybe some spicy rice and an egg. I am desperately trying to knock the coffee on the head at the moment, but failing miserably.

Lunch is usually minimal for me, I grab a snack along the way.

Dinner is our main meal. Both my husband and I like to cook, so we usually have something tasty around six o'clock. When I'm on the road, a good dinner is essential for morale. Bad tour food is a no-no these days.

Nutrition is important to me, for sure. I like pretty much all food and I love fruit and veg, so I tend to get most of my nutrition directly from food. I go through phases of taking supplements, but I tend to forget to take them regularly. Routine is not my forté.

Yes, however I am now trying very hard to avoid diet culture as I believe it to be extremely toxic and bad for women and our self-image, so that's enough of that.

I work a lot on the weekend, so quite often my treats happen during the week. I have felt quite rushed and busy this last while, what with work, parenting and uni all requiring my attention, so these days a treat is an evening in front of the fire and an early night with a sleep-in the next day.

I walk a lot and I do sporadic gym memberships. I am not sure that anyone is mentally fit all the time. Societal issues such as poverty, housing, healthcare, discrimination and increased political and cultural polarisation can be very stressful for people, and it is very difficult to 'self-care' your way out of those things. I think perhaps self-compassion is what I am really trying to focus on these days for my mental health.

I don't have any of those, I'm afraid.

I quite enjoyed PE at school – I really enjoyed the craic of team sports and I played Gaelic football and basketball. My younger brother and I also played quite a lot of badminton. I would really have loved to have done gymnastics, also but back in the day in west Kerry, it wasn't really a thing.

Oh, absolutely a tipple. I thoroughly enjoy a wine or a cocktail and most definitely love a creamy pint in Madden's Bar in Belfast.

It depends how late I am... I generally go for the stairs.

I am reading a book called Poor by Katriona O'Sullivan which is absolutely blowing my mind. It's the most candid and enlightening account of childhood poverty I have ever read. Katriona is a professor in Maynooth University and her compassionate and insightful account of her upbringing should be read by policy makers and politicians all over the island.

I watch absolute trash on TV these days, between my studies and my work, TV is really where I switch my brain off. I'm always falling asleep while watching television, but I was glued to Hijack with Idris Elba this week.

There were long stretches of time where I was really happy in the solitude. Obviously, it was stressful at times, as both my husband and I are musicians so neither of us could work. That being said, we had really nice times with our daughter who was small at the time.

Nope.

I walk in nature. I live beside a gorgeous native woodland area beside Lough Corrib and I absolutely love to ramble around it with a podcast or music in my ears.

I don't really view the world that way – goals aren't something I really think about. I have professional projects and ambitions that I am working on, academic work that I am doing and also parenting. I tend to try and keep on top of things without getting too stressed, but I never contextualise things as 'goals' – life is hard enough...

It really varies, depending on how much I am working and where that happens to be. I often drive home after gigs if I am within three hours of home, so it can be quite late when I do climb into bed. If I am home though, I love an early night.

Ah, here – what's the point?

I think everybody's priorities and perspectives change over time. I think a lesson I have learned is that it is okay to change your mind. This applies to the big and the small things in life.

Having my daughter has, I guess. She makes me think of life differently.