Me and My Stress

Main cause of stress

Main cause of stress

My stress levels have really rocketed in the last few weeks with the organisation of our exhibition at the United Nations in New York. (The Chernobyl exhibition opened last Thursday - the 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.)

But the stress here in New York is a different type of stress. At home, you have to balance personal life with work. The nature of my work is that it is literally seven days and nights a week.

I might arrive to work feeling calm and relaxed but two hours later that could all change. Something which is on your A-list of priorities may move to your C-list when you get a call about a really ill child who needs to get to a hospital here.

READ MORE

Coping with stress

The only thing that is really sacrosanct to me is walking. I go for a walk a maximum of four times a week, for about one hour.

My husband Sean got me a tiny radio which I slip into my jacket so that I can listen to Lyric FM. I love to listen to anything conducted by Alexander Anissimov. After my walks, I come back illuminated.

We have a house in Kerry and it's a wonderful place to de-stress. It takes me a week to 10 days to unwind when I get there as I am like a tight coil.

I can't leave the mobile phone at home in case there is an emergency but I have sworn on a stack of Bibles that I will only phone the office once a week this August.

A sense of humour

If you didn't have a sense of humour it would be very difficult. If you don't laugh, you could cry a lot.

Some problems may seem insurmountable but we say "hey, we are doing powerful work". It is such a unique privilege to be able to do what we can for the survivors. It could so easily have happened here with Sellafield and we would be begging people to take our children on holidays.

In conversation with Alison Healy