Longing for a �sick day�

2 years ago 94

With an impending restructure at work, my days have been a bit more stress-filled than usual. �My team of six has been reduced for now to a team of three � and we�re doing our best to keep things...

With an impending restructure at work, my days have been a bit more stress-filled than usual. �My team of six has been reduced for now to a team of three � and we�re doing our best to keep things going despite the sense of doom and gloom about the place.

In the midst of all this turmoil, staff have been dropping like flies� with record numbers of sick days. �As for me, who rarely gets sick enough to justify�a day off work, I�ve been day-dreaming about taking a �sick day� to just, well� decompress.

Sick DaySpending a day battling the flu wasn�t quite the �sick day� I�d been hoping for.

In my mind, I imagined I�d time my �sick day� for when the kids were at school/kinder so that I could sleep in �till 10am and then go out for a brunch with my�husband (who is currently studying at home).

I then planned to dig out one of my craft projects � which have been ignored for the past 2.5 years since I went back to full-time work. �And I�d end the day by picking up my kids (who would be surprised to see Mum rather than Dad waiting outside their classroom) and then welcoming them home to home-cooked cookies.

My work has an official name for days like this. �I know it�s �technically� fine to take a mental health day, but I don�t know about you � I still struggle with the idea of taking a day off when I don�t physically appear sick.

Go to work with a hacking cough or a dripping nose and people encourage you to go home and rest up. �But arrive at work crippled with anxiety, depression or stress and no-one is any the wiser. �It�s easier to hide feelings of despair, depression and hopelessness than a fever. �I worked through months of acute depression � and no-one at work noticed, until I made a point of telling them about the struggle I was having.

Not that I advocate hiding your mental illness from your employer. �I have let�my manager know about my condition � and I�d like to think my employees feel comfortable enough to share with me. �Yet, I�m well aware that just telling your staff that they�re� technically allowed to take time off to deal with mental health issues doesn�t make it easy to actually do it. �We need senior staff to model that it�s actually ok.

Today, I finally got my sick day.

Only problem was, it really was a sick day. �And it struck on a Saturday morning. �Sure I got to spend the morning�in bed�. but that was where I stayed for most of the weekend. And as for a leisurely lunch with my husband � well let�s just say that I wasn�t feeling up for�any kind of date. �Instead of feeling free to enjoy a Monday off work� I found myself dealing with 1000�s of tissues and an aching�body that didn�t want to do anything but lie down.

Moaning that �this isn�t what a sick day is meant to be like�� my husband kindly pointed out what I was after wasn�t a �sick day� but a �sickie�. �Hmm� I�d better be careful what I wish for next time.

Mariska xx

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