Staying Home: Informer 3838 star Ella Scott-Lynch gives tips on coping with isolation

Staying Home is a series of interviews with well-known Australians to learn how they are dealing with isolation and social distancing.

Australian actress Ella Scott-Lynch’s role as Nicola Gobbo in the TV drama Informer 3838 was also her last paid working gig. While she’s not quite sure about future work, she’s taking this time to sort plans and organise her four-year-old daughter’s birthday party, which is coming up in a few weeks.

“Everything is in limbo right now with work, but I am using this time to write and take control and do what I can to create work for myself,” says Scott-Lynch, who was also supposed to do a play later this year.

“It’s also about staying on top of good mental health right now.

“I have had highs and lows, and meditation has always helped me during a crisis and in a life-changing event like this it has really helped me again. This isolation period takes me back to being a new mum when I was struggling and meditation saved my skin then.”

She’s keeping busy doing FaceTime with friends abroad, making garden potions with her daughter Ziggy and walking the dog twice a day. She says now is the perfect time to start watching Australian movies and TV series.

“As good as all the streaming services are, we need to get behind Australian stories and make sure they’re front and centre because it means jobs for us,” she says.

“Informer 3838 is relevant to our country and where we’re at right now – it’s also fun to revisit those characters we’ve become familiar through the news and support the industry at a time when everyone is feeling vulnerable about their jobs.”

Favourite room

My bedroom is my favourite place right now. I’ve made an effort to keep it a technology-free zone and it’s the only room in my house that has no children’s toys in it. I feel like I am spending more time in there reading.

I have also made a nice place to meditate in there and the morning light is lovely and feels good. I have heard that making your bed and keeping it tidy is a good way to start the day, so I’ve taken to doing that too.

DIY project

I rent my home, so can’t get too busy with DIY projects, but I have started planting some tomatoes with my daughter and been busy moving indoor and outdoor plants. Weirdly, my indoor plants like being outdoors so I am constantly trying to keep them happy and not kill them.

Reading

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. It’s a novel but the title is kind of apt for now. It’s very dark and very funny and it’s basically about a woman who is meditating herself to sleep the year away.

Baking/making

I have started getting fruit and veggies delivered weekly and we’ve tried to do more slow cooking. I feel I am always trying to hide vegetables so my daughter can’t see anything green. We are also doing a lot of potion making – she has a witchy vibe and she’s all about creating garden potions with leaves and dirt.

Planning

In my mind I am planning my daughter’s fourth birthday party and how can we make that fun without having a bunch of her friends in the house.

As actors, we’re used to coming up with ways to structure our day when we don’t have a formal workday. I feel if anything it’s made me think about generating my own work a lot more. I am more about planning how to stay well mentally.

Latest home purchase

The last thing I dragged into the house was a bookcase we found on the side of the road after a council clean-up. I’m a big book hoarder and never have enough bookcases, and found a beautiful wooden one. It’s been good to work out ways not to spend money and repurpose things.

Favourite time in isolation

I love the evening around 9pm after my daughter has gone to bed – it allows me time to think and plan things and everything feels alive with possibility. I might either write something or watch a new series. Mostly I read a chapter of a book and fall asleep.

Iso-survival tip

I find it quite helpful to get ludicrously overdressed to do tiny silly jobs. The more colourful and inappropriate the get-up, the better. The first few weeks I was wearing tracksuits and felt like it was postpartum life again. I quickly changed that.

And you need to go outside in the daylight – it makes a massive difference to my day. You can reset and get perspective on things.

Latest app

I think like a lot of people I have downloaded Houseparty. I find the whole thing over-stimulating and there’s a lot of people on there I don’t want to have house parties with. Might be time to delete it.

Watch Informer 3838 at 8.40pm on Monday, April 27 on Channel Nine.