re:Headspace

Clarke shares her tried-and-tested tips with Stylist.

ACCEPT YOUR EMOTIONS

“Everyone has a nasty [internal] voice. I think the technical term is a ‘persecutory superego’. I call mine Steve. But everybody has a nice voice too. It says, ‘If you feel you want to cry, fucking cry. If you want to rage, get that pillow and scream into it.’ Accept those emotions, don’t try and push them away. And when your nasty voice is being unkind, listen out for your nice voice, which will say, ‘Why have you got to be so mean, why can’t you just be kind?’’’

AVOID COMPARISON

“When you find yourself comparing your life to all the amazing things someone else has, say to yourself, ‘But they can’t do this particular thing that I do really well,’ or ‘They don’t have this thing that I do’ to counterbalance it. Or just don’t look. I mute a lot. When my nasty voice is screaming, I mute more than ever.”

SHOUT ABOUT YOUR GOOD DEEDS

“Comparison can be a good thing when it comes to action for the greater good. I don’t mean white saviour stuff, I mean if you want to Instagram that you went back home and helped your nan with the shopping, pop that on if you want to. It’s that sort of stuff that makes us think, ‘Oh, I could do that, I should call my family, or help a friend in need.’ Something that is real.”

MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR YOURSELF

“If I have an early start the next day, I lay out my clothes and pack my handbag the night before. I might even go to the lengths of popping out my tea mug. Just little things to help me get ready really quickly.”

CELEBRATE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS

“I went through a phase where I would write myself a postcard about an experience I was proud of. Not ‘I won an award’ or ‘I met Brad Pitt.’ More like, ‘This person said they thought my acting was good, which affected me on a meaningful level. I’m writing to you to remind you that this happened.’”

TAKE TIME OUT