RTE star Anna Geary has admitted her life “completely and utterly turned upside down” after becoming a mum for the first time.
The Ireland’s Fittest Family coach and her hubby Kevin Sexton welcomed their son Ronan into the world on August 1, 2023.
Anna’s brother Thomas suddenly passed away in Limerick University Hospital after a short illness at the age of just 34 just three months later.
The Cork native has opened up on how drastically her life changed after becoming a mum for the first time.
The 37-year-old told The Irish Sun: “Oh, my God. It completely and utterly turned upside down. Don’t get me wrong. It’s brilliant and it’s amazing.
“And we wouldn’t change it for the world. But I was only talking to a friend of mine yesterday and I was like, ‘What did I do with all of my free time before I had it?’, like my house is clean. I was organised. I was able to plan things in advance.
“Now, just things change all the time. And I think I have to be okay with that.”
Anna explained how she’s adjusted to her new “discombobulated” lifestyle.
She said: “It’s kind of – the word I use often is discombobulating because it is.
“I’m quite an organised person and I’m a planner and I like doing that and making plans. You can’t really do that with a small baby because they do dictate a lot of what you do and where you go and what time you leave the house at.
“You have to roll with that and be okay with us. It won’t last forever. Somebody said to me recently, ‘Everything is a phase and whether you’re going through a good phase or you’re going through a hard phase, everything is a phase and it will pass’.”
Anna has been struggling with “sleep deprivation” lately as herself and Kevin are trying to sleep train their one-year-old.
The popular presenter told us: “We are a few weeks into it. And needless to say, the sleep deprivation is alive.
“And while I can see why it is used as a form of torture, because it is. We know that this phase of passing will be all sleepless nights and be worth it.”
Anna revealed that her son has taught her a valuable life lesson – to “slow down”,
She said: “We’re not really able to make that many plans with people.
“But I think surrendering to it is really important because he is the priority. We signed up to be his parents.
‘SLOW DOWN’
“We have to kind of just take that on the chin and be like, ‘Okay, for now, this is a big thing’. Spending time with him and doing the simple things, I think as well it forced me to slow down.
“We all live in this hustle culture where we need to be productive and doing more and more and going places and living our ‘best lives’.
“But it actually has forced us to enjoy the simple stuff. So whether it is grabbing a coffee and going for a walk on a Saturday and taking him in the pushchair or maybe we’re going to the zoo and he wants to walk because he can walk now. So he insists on walking everywhere, even though it takes ages.
“We have to relinquish the control of it. So he forced us to slow down, which is actually not a bad thing either.”
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
The mum-of-one works for herself and struggles with “switching off”.
Anna has made the conscious decision to “put her phone away” and be fully present when at home as her son already “knows the phone is his competition”.
She explained: “We don’t kind of give credit to kids, but they are very aware that when we have a phone in our hands that we’re not.
He knows that even at that young age.
“I think for me, to be aware of that myself. And to be really conscious of when I use the phone and what I do.”
The RTE dating show Love in the Country, which Anna hosts, is returning on air for its second season on Monday, October 7, at 9.35pm on RTE2.
BACK ON AIR
The popular series, which follows six rural singletons, is set to be better than ever.
Speaking about working on the show, Anna said: “It’s brilliant that it’s back this year and there’ll be more of the same.
“I’ve been doing the voiceover for the show that’s coming out Monday and I can tell you, it’s just as good, if not better than it was last year. It’s great.
“I genuinely think it’s a privilege for me to be in the position that I’m in, because when it comes to love and meeting people, people are baring their souls.
LOOKING FOR LOVE
“It’s a very vulnerable place to be. And all these people are in it for the right reasons. They’re all there to meet somebody.”
Anna revealed that this season will be more diverse and have people of all different ages looking for love or even to just get dating experience.
She said: “We have everyone this year from in their early 20s to mid 70s. And people sign up to the show for different reasons. One of the younger contestants or locals there because he wants to learn how to talk to girls.
“He doesn’t have any experience of dating and finds it really hard to talk to women. So he’s fine. He’s not looking for a wife, but he’s looking to get experience. That’s even brilliant.
‘AWKWARD’
“And then we’ve got Oli in his 70s who has very openly said he’s lonely and he’s looking for companionship.
“I think the fact that people are being really honest and vulnerable and putting themselves out there and I’m nearly there as their wing woman of sorts.”
Anna has said there’s some cringe moments and a few surprises to come.
She explained: “I love the fact that these are legitimate people looking to meet someone. It’s awkward and it’s messy. I’m sure audiences will say, ‘I was watching through my hands, I can’t believe he said that’. But it shows the realities of dating.
“I love at the very end when you’re trying to figure out who’s still together and who’s not, there’s always surprises.
“My jaw would be on the floor sometimes. I’m like, ‘What? I did not see that coming’.
“I definitely think the audience will be kept on their toes in terms of guessing as well this series.”
