Welcome to the latest post of The Weekly Balance. Let’s have a look back at the past seven days in my life and what I’ve learnt from it.

What I’m thinking about…

Self-belief. This week I’ve been putting off starting a couple of new projects, just because I was feeling a bit…well… like I wasn’t quite ready to start them, or wouldn’t do them justice, or they wouldn’t be ‘good enough’ from the start. I realised this weekend that sometimes the idea of the thing you’re putting off doing, or are afraid to start maybe, is often worse than the doing itself. So this weekend, I’ve made a start, and decided to stop second guessing myself about it. I’ll learn along the way, from the parts I get right and the parts I don’t! If, like me, there’s something you’ve been putting off for fear of just starting, then remember, half the battle is just giving it that first go – and stopping procrastinating!

I’ve also been thinking about how absolutely awesome science is. We’re seeing mass roll-out of the Pfizer-BionTech (and to a lesser extent, Moderna) vaccines against COVID-19 here in Ireland, and it’s really blowing my mind how far we’ve come since first learning about the Sars-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 this time last year. What a difference a year makes – our world so different now to how it was before. I really and truly hope that the implementation of vaccine programmes here and around the world signals the light at the end of the tunnel – I know we all need that bit of hope right now. For those in Ireland, you can read more about the COVID-19 vaccine programme here.

What I’m reading…

I’m currently reading The Man Who Fooled The World by Brian Deer. I’m not quite finished, so I’ll share a review next week! I’ve got Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones lined up next.

As always, let me know what you’re reading in the comments below!

What I’m listening to…

This week there were a few podcast episodes I really enjoyed actually. I’ve listed the top three below for you guys:

Table Manners with Jessie Ware – The latest episode is an interview with actress Elizabeth Olsen, and it’s a fun and easy-going listen with a few laughs in there too, as there always is on this podcast!

Castaway – Hosted by Laura Whitmore, this podcast asks guests what their favourite podcasts are and why. The most recent episode is a lovely chat with Dolly Alderton, covering Dolly’s go-to podcasts and a little bit about her new novel Ghosts as well.

The Explainer Podcast – This is a podcast by The Journal, and the episode I listened was a great and very accessible interview with consultant virologist Cillian de Gascún about COVID-19 vaccines. It covers how vaccines work in general, and then dives into the mode of action of the three current frontrunner vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic (Pfizer-BionTech, Moderna, and Ozford/Astrazeneca).

And that’s a wrap for this week gang! If you want to get in touch, you can find me @theirishbalance on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I hope you have a lovely week ahead folks – remember, stay informed with the advice from your local health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask, keep your distance and be kind!

Ciara x