"I've got a collapsed lung"
Can't do coffee, I CAN do the cleaning
I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee the other day, but she cancelled because she wasn’t feeling well.
And by “not feeling well” she meant she had a collapsed lung 😅
She decided to be sensible and stay at home. Try and rest.
A few hours later she messaged me to say she’d accidentally spent the afternoon cleaning the house and getting on top of the laundry 🤦♀️
I laughed when I read it.
Not because collapsed lungs are funny. Obviously.
But because I know exactly how that feels.
You finally get a day off, or a free afternoon or a weekend you’ve been looking forward to for weeks. And somehow, instead of feeling rested afterwards, you’ve cleaned the kitchen, sorted that cupboard you’ve been meaning to get to, replied to 132 emails, done the food shop and squeezed in some life admin while you’re at it.
You tell yourself it feels good to be productive.
And sometimes it does.
But often we’re doing these things because we can’t ignore the voice in our head saying “just get this done first, THEN you can relax”.
And before you know it, the weekend has gone. Monday arrives before you’ve recovered from Friday.
I don’t think this is just about being busy.
I think for a lot of us, it’s difficult to leave things unfinished. To stop when there are still jobs on the list. To enjoy an afternoon off when there are things we “should” be doing.
I didn’t realise this was part of perfectionism.
That perfectionism isn’t just someone striving for flawless outcomes. Sometimes it looks like someone who genuinely doesn’t know when enough is enough.
Who keeps going long after a break would have been more useful.
Who feels slightly uncomfortable when they’re resting because there are still things left undone.
That was certainly me, and it’s taken time to learn to do things differently.
That’s exactly what my in-person CPD is designed for.
🏡 Weekend retreat for female veterinary professionals
16th-18th Oct 2026
Structured time to step away from the treadmill and learn skills that will help in life AND in work.
Past clients describe the weekend as “essential for me to understand how to live differently” and that “my life is richer and more fulfilled for having found those 48 hours”.
If any of this resonated, I’d love to welcome you there
Lucy x