Country music singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden has just wrapped up a tour for her new album Hey Dawn and is embracing a period of unwinding.
"It's such an adrenaline-based job with very little sleep, so I need to calm everything down for a week or so when I finish a tour and just do the bare necessities."
Living remotely on a farm in New South Wales with her husband and two kids, she prefers to spend time at home decompressing rather than going on a holiday — as she points out, "Going on a holiday means you have to organise it!"
Fanny shares how she does away with the concept of work-life balance and instead embraces life's blurry bits.
Unwind with... is a weekly column that explores the simple ways people take care of themselves.
My favourite place to unwind is…
At home. It makes a huge difference to my mental health living in the country and being able to see an expanse of space.
If I'm not at home, I'll try to make time to go for a walk or even just a drive to somewhere so I can get a view of rolling hills and country.
It helps me feel small so I can find perspective on my worries and stay grounded.
My preferred way to unwind from a busy period is…
The first few days [after a tour ends] are complete decompression — usually there is an intention of doing a workout or yoga, but I usually just sit on my yoga mat and play with my kids. Sleep is really important, but can be really hard with two little kids waking up all the time while we are on tour, so I'm trying to prioritise that now.
Then I'll start going for walks and exercising, do cattle work on the farm, gardening and start finding the floor of my house, which will be covered in mess from the touring period!
A small joy in my life is…
A cup of tea first thing in the morning, usually outside even if it's cold. Whatever I'm doing, I always try to figure out a way to do it outside — I'll take my laptop outside, I'll fold washing outside. It's so beautiful and calm and I find that very grounding.
To find balance having small children while working and touring…
I have to accept that there is no separation — I find a way to do it while they're running around. I'm on my laptop, I'm also with my kids, I'm at one with chaos!
It's a personal choice I make because I know I would be super stressed if I tried to create a perfect separation. And so, for me, having everything quite blurred is helpful.
I'm currently loving…
I'm reading the book This is Happiness by Niall Williams. If I'm stressed, I usually read adventure books because there is something comforting about reading about how someone persisted with something.
I also love watching travel and food documentaries to decompress. Recently, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones on Netflix has been brilliant. However, I always go back to anything with Anthony Bourdain.
Something I'm getting better at…
I give a lot emotionally and physically as part of my job, and there's no line between me as an artist and as a person. I'm trying to get better at stopping so I can take it all in to give again.
When I've burnt-out before, it's because I didn't recognise I needed to stop and rest if I wanted to keep going to term. I'm trying to be smarter about it this time and recognise that we don't need to constantly go, go, go. Creativity needs space to unwind, too.
A piece of advice I often turn to…
Just try and enjoy it all where you can. Everything happens at once — the good, the bad, the scary, exciting — so I'm just trying to enjoy the little moments.
Unwind with... is produced by Madeleine Dore, a writer, interviewer and author of I Didn't Do The Thing Today.
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