I’m Lucy ‘So Busy’ Allen and I’m a recovering Stress-aholic. God that feels good. For as long as I can remember, being busy and being stressed has been my natural state-of-play. Right back to my school days I’d race from choir practice to netball, debating to theatre sports, piano lesson to Japanese drumming never mind… the point is, I was stretched. And it was a rush. This pattern of jam-packing my days with people, appointments and deadlines has followed me into adulthood and proven a hard cycle to break. You see, keeping yourself busy, and in a constant state of stress, affirms many personal ideals we wish to be true: I’m so busy = I’m in demand. I’m so busy = I’m needed. I’m so busy = I’
OK ladies, grab a glass of vino and set your Spotify to Rod Stewart "Have I Told You Lately?"... we're about to go deep into love. Perhaps you've had a week not dissimilar to mine? You're work days have stretched longer than you thought humanly possible, you've put out fires left, right and centre, you've squeezed five coffee catch ups, three breakfasts and two dinners into a day and you've nursed your sick partner back to health after a serious bout of the man flu. You've finally flopped onto the couch, nothing more than a dishevelled mess, and wondered in all of the madness - who's looking after me? Let me introduce you to a new friend of mine... self-care… you’re gonna love her! I
You have the same hours in the day as Beyoncé. Think about that for a minute. You have the same amount of time as a Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, actress, mother, wife, d-floor slayer and yet if you’re anything like me, you struggle to find the time to put your pants on the right way round. Why?? Time is a funny thing. It seems there’s never enough of it or far too much of it and it often feels completely out of our control. But Imma let you in on a little secret; you are the Alice of your Wonderland, you are your own timekeeper. Whilst it may sound simple, the amount of time you have or do not have is completely down to you though all too often, we freely give our time away and s
I let go of someone at work this week and it felt good. Reeeeeal good. Now, before you pigeon hole me as the Miranda Priestly type, let me explain why firing someone felt amazing not only for me, but also for her, and the lessons I took from it. You see Nigela-Not-Right was a gorgeous woman with a lot to give to an organisation. She was bubbly, articulate and had wow’d the pants off me in our interviews. But, after just a few days with us it became apparent her skillset and working style was completely misaligned with ours. I ignored my gut and convinced myself that with time she’d stop fucking everything up find her groove and would fulfil what we needed of the role. Of course, I was wrong
