done by singer Teddy Swims<\/a> before his Auckland concert, McLean says she approved. <\/p>\n![\"The]()
The Hits Drive host Matty McLean got tattooed by Teddy Swims. Photo \/ NZME.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s one thing on the list McLean says his mum will never know about, nor anyone else, as he\u2019s permanently redacted it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one\u2019s just for me,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n
It makes the mind boggle, given he\u2019s happy to talk about the nude photoshoot that left him questioning the decision while driving to the photographer\u2019s house, seriously considering turning around. <\/p>\n
Once it was over, McLean says it could be summed up in one word: \u201cliberating\u201d.<\/p>\n
That word comes up a lot when McLean reflects on the challenges he\u2019s taken on as part of his list. Not because the list let him pose nude on a stool, but because it reinforced a lesson he\u2019s come to cherish.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is for living,\u201d he says, admitting he knows that sounds like a quote you\u2019d find framed in your mum\u2019s kitchen. But he means it sincerely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here for a short time, so grab it by its balls and squeeze it,\u201d he says, erupting in that trademark laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cLife can get crazy, or life can get mundane. But it doesn\u2019t have to be mundane. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe you just pick one thing every year that pushes you slightly outside of your comfort zone, or you do something that you\u2019ve always wanted to do but have never done. That way you can look back on the year and say, \u2018That was a cool year. I got to do something I\u2019ve always wanted to do, and what an awesome story to tell\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\""At]()
“At the end of the day, our job is just to make people smile \u2013 how incredible is that?” Photo \/ NZ Herald, Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
The challenge also arrived during a period of personal reflection. McLean admits that over the past few years, he didn\u2019t quite feel like himself. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have had to do some work in the last couple of years to really reignite my spark a little bit. I felt like I lost a little bit of that for a while, just life being busy and crazy and my friends\u2019 lives being busy and crazy, and maybe not feeling like I was as connected to my circle as I would have liked to have been. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut lately I\u2019m feeling really reconnected to people, and I\u2019m reminding myself how invaluable my friendships are. So I feel very empowered right now.\u201d <\/p>\n
A self-confessed people-pleaser, McLean says he\u2019s spent much of his life prioritising the happiness of those around him. Entering a new decade, he admits he needs to put as much attention into finding his own joys. <\/p>\n
\u201cI need to be happy, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean and Teece recently moved from central Auckland to a large lifestyle block, and McLean says the move has been a shift in their happiness. <\/p>\n
McLean describes Teece as a \u201cfarm boy at heart\u201d and says the move was his partner\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I\u2019d marry someone who rode horses and wanted to live on a 12-acre lifestyle block, but he\u2019s the happiest he\u2019s ever been,\u201d McLean says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see your partner happy and content, isn\u2019t that just an amazingly fulfilling feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean says the move mirrored the way Teece supported him through the twists and turns of his career in the past decade. <\/p>\n
![\"Daniel]()
Daniel Faitaua, Hayley Holt, John Campbell and Matty McLean hosted Breakfast together from 2018-2019. <\/p>\n
But just like moving to the country, moving from presenting TVNZ\u2019s Breakfastin 2023 to co-hosting a radio show with his best friend PJ Harding felt right.<\/p>\n
\u201d… Our job is just to make people smile \u2013 how incredible is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
For someone who once worked in the high-pressure world of news and current affairs, he doesn\u2019t take that privilege to spread joy lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNews and current affairs is such an amazing and important thing, and God, we need it more than ever. But for me, I think I\u2019ve realised this is where I\u2019m happiest.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what\u2019s next, McLean says he\u2019s ruling nothing out \u2013 not even a return to TV, but for now, he\u2019s enjoying having his feet firmly planted where he\u2019s standing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Instead, as the long-time broadcaster approaches the milestone birthday, he\u2019s feeling something he admits has taken a long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24041,140101,10791,95,6325,305087,1061,156,5420,4508,12022,57200,11285,636,55136,9611,57201,111,139,69,90,7801,6642,223,32951],"class_list":["post-619714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-24041","tag-40th","tag-ageing","tag-and","tag-birthday","tag-braver","tag-children","tag-entertainment","tag-hes","tag-hits","tag-host","tag-jenni","tag-learning","tag-marriage","tag-matty","tag-mclean","tag-mortimer","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-shadow","tag-tells","tag-the","tag-turns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}