While she’s best known for her role on The Project, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Carrie Bickmore packs into her day.
Campaigning to raise one million dollars for her brain cancer awareness foundation Carries Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, wife, mum to Ollie, eight, and Evie, one – the 35-year-old certainly juggles a whole lot of hats (or should we say beanies).
We sat down with Carrie to understand why she celebrates her full schedule, what helps her get through her day and why she believes women should be celebrating their busy lives.
How do you maintain a positive sense of self with such a full schedule?
“I love exercising. I do a lot of exercise, not hardcore or anything but I’ll often do it with my daughter like we’ll go to the park and I’ll do bits and pieces there. I go for a walk with her every single day and on the weekends I’ll try and get to a pilates class. My whole life I’ve been active more for my mental health than my physical health, I think.”
Carrie and her Project Co-star Waleed Aly. Image:@bickmorecarrie. “There’ll be a period where I’ll feel so flat and I’ll think ‘Carrie, you haven’t done any exercise for a while, what’s going on?’ And as soon as I go for a run or a run-walk as it is most of the time, I go ‘Ah, that’s better, I can take on life now!’
Are there routines that you always have time for regardless of your schedule?
“Even though I hate it, I always take my makeup off at night. Occasionally I try and get away with not doing it and then my skin breaks out and I spend the next two weeks begging the makeup girls to cover up the enormous – and they’re not little! – spots that seem to come up on my face. Even though I am a woman in my thirties, I still break out so I force myself to take my makeup off at night. I think that’s why I don’t wear much and only wear BB Cream during the day because I have to have time for my skin to breathe.”
“My whole life I’ve been active more for my mental health than my physical health, I think.” Image: @bickmorecarrie.
Why do you believe that being busy should be celebrated?
“Well, I don’t think it’s going to change. I think if we keep waiting for life to be less busy, we’ll be spending our whole live waiting! I think we’re better off embracing it and celebrating it.”
Why do you think Australian women are busier than ever?
“I don’t know if they are because I look at my mum when I was growing up and she was super busy and I never saw her stop. She worked full time, she was trying to raise three kids, so I would actually argue that I don’t know if we are any busier. I think for generations mums have been crazy busy, you know. And I think I’m actually busier on the days that I’m at home with the kids rather than when I go to work. I just think it’s busy in really different ways.”
Why do you think the Beautifully Busy movement is important?
“I think as women we need to embrace our busyness and be proud of it and spend less time going ‘Ah, I’m so busy’. If I think about myself, every time someone asks how I’m going I say, ‘SO busy’ and then I think, ‘Hang on, I should be happy I’m busy’. It could be the complete opposite and I could have nothing to do, be bored and have no purpose.
“I think as women we need to embrace our busyness." Image: supplied.
I think being busy has negative connotations because it makes it sound like we have no time for the important things. And we – and I do this too – make it sound like busy is a negative thing because we say ‘I am so busy’ almost like it is a complaint. I mean if you asked successful business people they’d probably say they’re stoked that they’re busy because it means their business is going well. I think maybe it’s how we talk about it with each other. And look, as a society I think it’s a lot easier to complain than say ‘My life is amazing today!’
All of us have so much to offer the world in really different ways, whether it be as a mum, as a friend, colleague, in your job, and I think we should be proud of that and proud of the fact we have these really different, interesting and crazy lives.”
What do you think are the signs of a life well lived?
“I think good friends, good relationships and feeling like you’ve been a part of something that has mattered in whatever capacity that is, something that has made a difference no matter how small. I don’t think that it has to be a perfect life. I’m very much of the view that life has speed bumps along the way but we should embrace those speed bumps and all of that helps shape who you are. So I don’t think a life well-lived is one that went perfectly, I think it’s just a life where you’ve given your all to it.”
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Garnier. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.
What do you do to your busy lifestyle?
Top Comments
Being busy has made me very ill! On forced bedrest. Busyness does not work for everyone! I wish I was less busy.
I've been unemployed for a long time and I totally agree with what Carrie is saying. Im jealous of friends and family who are busy. I do my best to stay busy but it is not the same as being authentically busy.
For those who have never experienced long periods of unemployment/underemployment the lack of busy-ness means that you're constantly scrounging for conversational topics together with feelings of worthlessness and pointlessness. I'll give you an example. If all I've done all day is clean the house, volunteer cleaning and the weekly shop when the family reconvenes at the end of the day I won't have anything to contribute to the discussion about the day's events unless I enjoy whining about the mess they've made or the fact they eat. Always, as the person with the least to contribute, I get to listen and support the others. When I work, or have meaningful volunteer work, I can take a proper turn of talking about my day and its trials and tribulations.