Sick Days

The luxury of a day off.  Why is it that we have to be sick, I mean really, really sick, before we give ourselves a day off of work and chores and responsibilities?  As the man once said, which one of us, on our death bed, will say "I should have gone to work more?" 

Now don't get me wrong, I am all in favor of people having a job.  Work is good for us.  It gives us a purpose.  It breaks up the days.  It means you get taxed so I have a job!  But why is it that we live to work?

I have been fighting a cold all week.  It started last Saturday and here it is, Thursday, and it's still hanging on.  It has me so drained that yesterday at work I literally put my head down on my desk to nap between calls.  I was coughing and sneezing so frequently that I became an instant black-belt practitioner of the use of the "mute" button while talking to the tax payers.  Last night I was so tired when I got home that I fell asleep within minutes of sitting down and still slept all night.  Today I have taken a nap already and it's only 10:19!

Finally common sense asserted itself.  I am sick.  I have sick time accumulated already.  Sick time is to use when you are sick, the idea being you can stay home and get well AND get paid for it.  Pretty nifty idea, huh?  My boss doesn't mind if I take a sick day.  Probably is glad I did, since she doesn't have to listen to me sniffle and snort today.  The government gave me those sick days to use in just such a situation.

So why is it that I felt like a slacker when I called in?

Why do we feel guilty for admitting that we are sick and need a day to recover?

Why do we think that our company will fall apart if we are absent for a mere 8 hours?

Why do we drive ourselves like slaves when we don't need to do it?

Yes, I know that there are folks out there who don't get sick time.  You don't work, you don't get paid.  But most of us do have that available to us and rarely, if ever, use it.  We think we have to be near death to call in sick.

And when I talk about calling in sick Scott always makes me feel like a total slacker.  Don't get me wrong, he NEVER says not to do it.  He encourages me to take the time if I feel like crud.  But somewhere in there he will mention oh-so-casually, that he hasn't missed a day of teaching since 1999.  Oh, except for the one day he took off to go to my dad's funeral.  So that doesn't count, 'cause it was for me, not for him.

Well today I called in sick.  Took my nap.  Sat around and stared out the window at nothing.  Tried to read and couldn't concentrate.  Ditto for playing solitaire.  I did try to get in to see my acupuncturist.  But she's not in on Thursdays.  Drat.  But my massage therapist is, and so I will go see her later this afternoon.  Until then, I'll just sit here and recuperate.  Let my batteries recharge.  Let my body heal itself.

And maybe some day this spring I will take a sick day before I get sick, just to do nothing and enjoy every minute of it.

The Sick Day Handbook: Strategies And Techniques for Faking It; Ferris Bueller's Day Off Bueller...Bueller... Edition (Special Collector's Edition); Probably The Best Music For Relaxation and Meditation