I had an interesting experience recently. I came off the appointment Rota to give me time to do some much needed office work. Great, I thought, as I got stuck into the nuts and bolts of running a business, ordering, payroll, schedules and all those other back-room jobs that no one ever told me about when I was starting up.

It was nice to clear the decks of some work that I’d been putting off, but I very quickly got to missing the real joy I get from being a vet.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before I was back doing appointments again, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it.

There is a special feeling to helping people and their animals, even if it’s something simple like giving flea control so they don’t have to be itchy. Small things can make a big difference to quality of life.

After 20 years as a vet, it’s easy to take for granted the things that have become so simple to me now.

We had a new graduate intern vet this summer who was seeing appointments for the first time in her career.

Watching her take her first steps into a world that I am so familiar with reminded me of how many challenges there are to young vets and how daunting that first year can be. She did very well.

When I was a new graduate, I asked an experienced vet I was working with how long it had taken him to feel like he really had a handle on the job and felt comfortable in it.

He told me he would let me know when he got there. Now I am the older vet, I understand what he meant.

There is always something to learn and improvements to be made, but getting back to seeing appointments after a short break made me remember why I became a vet in the first place.

It’s great to be there when people need you and to be able to relieve pain and illness if you can.

It’s easy to get bogged down with the day-to-day stresses and strains of work. There is always something to grumble about and we tend to focus on what’s wrong with a situation rather than what is right to our detriment. In this respect we could learn a lot from our pets.

Animals have a natural ability to look on the bright side, which is hard to ignore. They can find joy in the simplest of things, a lovely walk, a new toy, a tasty meal, or seeing their owner walk through the door.

They always seem to focus on the positive. They give me the benefit of the doubt and quickly forgive me even when they don’t like what I’m doing, such as nail trims or injections.

It was funny how taking a short break from appointments reminded me how much I enjoy them.

I will always be grateful for animals and getting back into the swing of doing appointments with them. I’m happy to leave the office work to someone else for a while.

• Lucy Richardson graduated from Edinburgh University in 2005. She started CedarTree Vets in August 2012 with her husband, Mark. They live at the practice with their two children, Ray and Stella, and their dog, two cats and two guinea pigs. She is also the FEI national head veterinarian for Bermuda