Limerick journalist talks finding mental clarity in a field at Electric Picnic

GO COVER Electric Picnic,” they said. “It will be fun,” they said. I did, and it was, but not at first. You see, being in a place where you're supposed to exude confidence for a job while grappling with anxiety isn't exactly the party you'd imagine.

My first Electric Picnic experience was in 2019. The weather wasn't terrible, the music was exceptional, I was with a gaggle of friends, but yet somehow I felt out of place.

So, I took the comfortable way out, and never went again.

Fast forward to 2023, and I'm asked to go for work. New to journalism, and wanting to give myself every boundary pushing experience I could, I said yes, but then that familiar gnawing feeling started to brew.

As you could imagine, in journalism, having little self-confidence is not exactly in the job description, so spending three days outside of my comfort zone worried me.

In terms of work, each day went off without a hitch. Content acquired, my colleague and I fell into a routine, like a well-practised dance.

One of us editing and spinning together footage, the other furiously tapping out copy to accompany the range of videos we acquired throughout the campsites and beyond.

When posed with work, a brief and a deadline, I can be Christiane Amanpour if I need to be. After all, what's the difference between navigating mosh pits and warzones?

In Pictures: 20 more photos of fans enjoying Electric Picnic

However, each day's end was a different story. After the chaos of the day, each evening I thought, “now is your chance to escape to safety.” So, on the first night, I zipped my tent and retreated to my comfort zone.

Impossible to be pleased, I was now feeling regret for leaving the “fun” early. As an introvert, I am rarely able to convince myself to go out by myself or enjoy a new social setting, a fatal flaw in a twenty-something year old. Then the words of a friend echoed in my head: “If you walk with your head high, confidence will follow.”

Before I knew it, I was wading through the mud, and pushing through crowds, at 1am in the middle of a county I wasn't from.

This would usually have sent my introverted self into a spiral with the chewed up fingernails and gnawed lip to prove it.

However, that night I felt the opposite. With my newfound philosophy, I met a group of friends and as I walked, talked and laughed, albeit a few courtesy giggles, I started to feel it.

The weekend thereon seemed to glisten like the glitter on my face. Meeting people, making connections, building networks, laughing, dancing, it was an experience that normally would have overwhelmed me, but now is one I would never trade.

That's the funny thing about comfort zones, they're an oxymoron. The imagery they portray poses like a cosy autumnal day, but the fact is, they do us more harm than good.

For me, Electric Picnic was a reminder that confidence is always building, and I'm still learning, but this was a good place to start. Here's to next year.