Northern Ireland

Shane McNaughton: What I've learned from lockdown

Actor and former Cushendall hurler Shane McNaughton describes the lessons he has learned in lockdown as he rediscovered his love for the place and people where he grew up

Actor and former Cushendall and Antrim hurler Shane McNaughton. Picture by Mal McCann
Actor and former Cushendall and Antrim hurler Shane McNaughton. Picture by Mal McCann Actor and former Cushendall and Antrim hurler Shane McNaughton. Picture by Mal McCann

WHEN I was around nine or 10 years old we were living in a little cul de sac in Cushendall, a stone's throw from the local hurling pitch.

The summers were your typical Irish GAA summers. Get up early, get your breakfast, grab your hurl and race to the pitch with your mates.

Return for lunch or dinner and straight back to the pitch, fed and ready for battle again.

If we were lucky a few local girls would come and sit on top of the dugout which only added to thrill. There wasn’t a helmet or mobile phone in sight.

The sun started going down around 9.30pm most evenings so the lads stayed until it got dark and then went home.

For whatever torturous reason my mother decided that I had to be in by 8pm. She would come out, stand at the edge of the field and shout "Shane, come on, it's time for bed".

This was met by a roar from the lads most nights: "Yeooo, Shane - your mammy wants you in for bed, yeoooo." You can imagine.

Me being the good-natured child I was, I never questioned her. She was my mother, I loved her and she fed me.

This went on for a few weeks and the lads would continue the yeooo bedtime chants. So one evening when walking back to the house I decided that I had enough, I was no longer going to be the kid who had to be in bed by 8.30pm on a summer's evening.

So I asked my mother if instead of shouting "Shane it's time for bed", could she shout "Shane it's time for a shower" or something a little more masculine, ya know.

The next night my mother walks to the edge of the pitch, leans on the old fencing that is all long but gone and shouts "Shane come on, it's time for a shower".

I stop, look to the lads, there's no roar, so I give a little nod as if ya know, there's no more bedtime at 8.30 for this young chico.

They never laughed after that. I was the cleanest kid in Cushendall all right, but they never laughed again.

We adapt and overcome and have done this since the beginning of time and we will continue to do this because we have to.

During lockdown I have rediscovered my love for the place I grew up in and the people in it.

I have gone on long walks around the north coast after breakfast and returned home for dinner. I have had conversations with people I haven't talked to in years.

I have asked my mother and father questions about their mother and fathers and tried to learn more about my family history.

I have watched how my younger sister juggles working full-time as a social worker and being an incredible mother to my goddaughter Cara.

I have watched how the people in my family all deal with what is going on right now in very different ways.

I can’t control what acting jobs I get no more than I can control the weather. So I have different clothes for the different days.

I have found myself writing more, I finished writing a children's book which will be available on Amazon Kindle very soon for the bargain price of a pint ;).

I have started doing voice overs and audio books but the single best thing to come out of isolation for me is the chance to stop and listen to people.

I now know that the most beautiful thing in the world to me is someone who has gone through a great deal of pain but continues to show empathy for everyone around them.

I am an actor, a son, brother and a friend but I know with complete certainty who I want to be.

I want to be caring of the people around me, curious and childlike about everything, sensitive and kind because that’s the modern day hard man and we now need those kind of people more than ever.

Try going out of your way to talk to someone, ask them and listen to how they are, without judgement and a wish for anything in return.

Just be there completely. I promise you, you won’t regret it. Do it every day and I promise you will change your life.