The Australian author, athlete, mindset coach and now mum-of-two chats to WHO about getting the most out of life.
WATCH: Turia Pitt and Michael Hoskin’s love story
By anyone’s standards, Turia Pitt has had an exceptional year. She entered 2020 fearing her home on New South Wales’ South Coast would be engulfed by the catastrophic bushfires.
Pitt, 33, was heavily pregnant with her second child at the time, and she was also due to deliver the manuscript for her fifth book.
“It was pretty crazy,” she understates during a phone interview with WHO.
“I look back now and that time feels like a dream.”
Thankfully, the home Pitt shares with her fiancé, Michael Hoskin, and sons Hakavai, who’ll turn 3 on December 7, and Rahiti, seven months, survived the flames – and her book Happy and other ridiculous aspirations is out now, too.
“I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved this year,” she says.
Here, she talks us through her non-negotiables when it comes to happiness – even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles – and dishes on life as a new mum with two children under three.
“In a nutshell? It’s chaos,” she laughs.
Are you actually Superwoman? How did you meet your book deadline and juggle a new baby and a toddler?
With help, to be fair. Michael is a super hands-on dad and we have family nearby, too. But it was pretty crazy. I submitted the book’s manuscript, then my home town almost burned down.
So then I rewrote the book to reflect that experience with the bushfires – and then a global pandemic broke out.
So I sat down and wrote about that, too. I pretty much crystal-balled to release a book on how to get happy just after a major natural disaster and a pandemic.
Did you take advice from your book when it comes to managing life with two kids?
I actually talk a lot in the book about having hard days. You can’t have good days without having hard days to compare them to, right?
I think it can be really refreshing to just sit and own it, and say, “Today’s a s–t day but tomorrow will be better,” and that’s OK.
How would you describe your new book and what do you want readers to take from it?
I think when you’re writing in the self-help space, there can be a tendency for it all to be very serious. My book’s about happiness so I wanted to inject a bit of humour and lightheartedness into it. Taking the p–s is good! I think feeling that way can make us happy, too.
More seriously though, I talk about how practising gratitude and really reflecting on things that I’m grateful for lead to a big mental shift for me.
You’ve got a busy schedule with work and two kids. How important is it for you and your partner to make time for each other?
I think it’s so important, but it doesn’t have to involve big, grand gestures. Michael and I haven’t had a lot of date nights yet since Rahiti’s still small. But when we do get time on our own, we’re finding that we always talk about the kids. I’ve heard that it’s bad to do that but I don’t see it that way.
The kids are our shared project, like a house renovation. Not that I’m comparing our boys to a house reno, but they’re our passion project who we both really love so I’m fine with talking about the boys with Michael anytime.
Would you like to have more kids?
Not right now. We’re kind of in the thick of things at the moment and just getting through each day. It’s full on with two young boys.
Michael and I will, if we have the actual energy, do a high five together when they’re both in bed at night. If we’re too exhausted, then we just look at each other and know we’re sharing a mental high five.
What are your go-tos if you’re having a rough day?
I’ll find time for a workout if I can, or I’ll eat ice cream – anything Ben and Jerry’s works for me. I also try to watch as much Netflix as I can when the kids are in bed.
And I need to remember that even the queen (aka Beyoncé) has days when she has self-doubts and doesn’t love herself. It’s surprising how helpful that can be to remember.
Turia’s book Happy and Other Ridiculous Aspirations is out now.
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