Category: Work
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The Good of Ills #2: Vulnerability is a superpower
Even as I type the title I feel uncomfortable: this lesson is easy to tell, less so to show. The value of vulnerability is a principle that a lot of us appreciate, in theory. That doesn’t mean we like how it feels. Over the course of 10 years working, I went from not declaring my […]
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The Good of Ills #1: Sometimes you will get left behind
I am having a lot of sliding door moments these days. What would my life look like? …If I had applied to that job I badly wanted. If I hadn’t been afraid to try something physically demanding. If I had written that book when I said I would. If I hadn’t had that hospital admission […]
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The Good of Ills: An Introduction.
My life is unrecognisable. Unrecognisably good.
I start my day without a coughing fit. It’s a refreshing new normal.
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My search for happier, healthier work on CFNewsToday
I’ve recently become a columnist for CFNewsToday. I publish weekly on the topic of working and professional life with Cystic Fibrosis. I highly recommend you head over there to see the most up-to-date posts, but from time to time I will share them here. In the not-too-distant past, I was a wide-eyed, coffee-swilling exec with […]
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Why we must talk about illness when it isn’t life or death
I want to take a minute to tell you why Professional Sick Girl exists. It’s true, I like to write; it’s my way of connecting with the world around me. But the reason I write about the things I do is to raise the profile of people with chronic illnesses, and the many different lives […]
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How to plan a career when you’re predicted to die in 10 years
I felt guilty writing the title of this post. It’s not something I’d relish reading from a friend or loved one and I can only imagine what it’s like as a parent. But I think people reading this without lived experience of illness need to understand this feeling as much as they possibly can. I […]
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The Jekyll and Hyde life
Hooo boy. Illness. It is quite the ice breaker at a party. When I meet a new person I like to tell them at least once that I have a life- threatening lung condition. Sometimes I like to chat about the four different types of broad-spectrum potent antibiotics I’m on at any one time. If […]
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The Tale of the CF Cinderella
Do you ever just stop and take a minute, to think about which Disney heroine you might have been in another life? Like many a millennial I often seek to take inspiration from Walt and shoehorn my experiences into the relevant cartoon princess. Say, If I were to sum up the experience of having Cystic Fibrosis […]
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A lesson in vulnerability
Or, that time I mentioned my wheezy-hamster-lungs in an interview. Unsurprisingly having a life-shortening illness can make you feel a tad vulnerable at times. It can also make you feel like a superhero when you defy the odds. But there’s one context that has always made me feel more vulnerable about having Cystic Fibrosis than […]
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An appeal at the eleventh hour
It’s that time of year again. Oh, you thought I meant the election? Well, yes. But it’s also around about the time of year I end up in hospital for a 14 day course of intravenous antibiotics to treat the underlying and continuous infection in my lungs. By Cystic Fibrosis standards this is nothing; it’s […]
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