Síle Seoige: I love the fact that I am nearly 43
Sile Seoige: "Having to face your own mortality at 32 was big, but it’s meant I really embrace where I am right now."
I was born in Castlebar, County Mayo, but my family moved to Galway when I was six weeks old — I am a Galway girl through and through. I was reared in Spiddal in Connemara, the youngest of four kids. I had a lovely upbringing. You appreciate that more as you get older, how lovely and simple it was.
One of my earliest memories is waking up in the middle of the night, coming into my parents' room and snuggling in between the two of them and just feeling safe and warm and cosy and protected and loved. It was just a lovely feeling. As a mother myself now, I’ve discovered the greatest gift you can give your kid is a feeling of safety, being their anchor in the world, their safe haven.
When I look back, I think it was obvious I was always going to go down this path, but I actually applied to do Law. In school, I wasn’t particularly academic, to put it mildly. I loved music, drama, art, English... the expressive subjects. I got a chance to audition for a show at 19 and I kind of just went for it for the laugh, but I got the job. And 24 years later, here I am.
I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs in life. The greatest challenge I've faced was being diagnosed with cancer at 32. You can't really get much bigger than that. Anyone you speak to who has gone through it.. you remember that day forever. For me, I certainly was not expecting it. I was only 32, I had climbed Kilimanjaro two years previously, there is no history of cancer in my family, I was healthy. But, cancer doesn't care if you're healthy or not.
Having to face your own mortality at 32 was big, but it’s meant I really embrace where I am right now. I feel very fortunate for my health and well-being, and I keep on top of it. I love the fact that I'm nearly 43, I've no problem with my age, I think it's privilege to age and be here. I am not afraid of death, but being a mother, I am afraid of not being around for my kids. I want to be around for them.
The best bit of advice I ever heard about parenthood was at an event I was hosting, when I was four months postpartum with Cathal. It was from a sleep expert, Lucy Wolfe. Somebody asked her what her best bit of advice for new parents was and she said 'lean into it'. That's absolutely it. You can't control it, you have no idea what's going to happen from one day to the next, so being fluid with this new role as a mother or a parent, you're better off just going with it, going with the flow, leaning into it and not forcing anything, just allowing it to happen the way it happens. That might sound a bit hippy, but it is actually so beneficial. That way, you remain rooted, grounded and calm and you're able to handle what happens more and more. But if you're rigid and you have a set structure on a day and how it's going to be.. It's not going to go that way, because every baby is different and their rhythms are different. So you have to just go with the flow.. for your own sanity!
The first few years of a smallies life is such an intense experience, but it’s so rewarding. The best part is that absolute love that you feel for those little beings every single day. You would lay down your life for them. My five-month-old Clíodhna is such a smiley baby, she wakes up with a beaming smile on her face and it just lights me up. It doesn’t matter how tired I am, it melts away when she smiles. My four-year-old Cathal is a great little character, he’s great craic. I genuinely love hanging out with him.
I have been told that I always look for the best in people, which I take as a major compliment. My partner, Damien says I think everyone's amazing, but I always start off assuming people are good. If they show me that they're not, fair enough, but I'll never assume that they're not good. When I meet someone, I'm not automatically suspicious, even if somebody has told me 'such and such is this...' I make up my own mind. I always start off thinking a person is good and decent. I wouldn't look for bad people.
I think I am a pretty good listener. Not always — because I'm an absolute chatterbox as well, but I think when somebody is really going through, I can be that listening ear.
In my younger years, I definitely missed out on opportunities simply because I didn’t have the confidence to go for them, but if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a single thing because it has led me to where I am at now, and I am so happy. Where I'm at right now in my life, with my two kids and in the relationship I am in... if you were to to show me a vision of that the day I met Damien, I think it would have blown me away.
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