Calling in Sick Today? Read this.

13 ways to be better at sick days from a recent sick day.

Sick days, let’s talk about them.

Most days I can power through and put myself on mute on ZOOM when I need to cough or add more blush. A rosy cheek is actually my entire make-up routine these days and isn’t that so ironic as the rosy cheeks are au naturale when running a fever. And honestly, why do I live in a space in my mind where I have to power through and pretend to not be sick when I am actually ill?

Recently, I had to call it in.

And by call it in, I had to truly surrender to the sick. I had no voice (which is so vulnerable for me as a speaker), my mind was foggy, my body was aching. I was sweating hot for an hour and then freezing the next. I cancelled calls and laid in the deepest corner of my couch for a long while under blankets and then no blankets. Back and forth and drinking water along the way.

As someone who gets almost angry at being sick and loathes taking actual full days off and resting (plenty to unpack here, another post another day), and I know a lot of you are the same way, I wanted to share my recent sick day learnings should you be nuzzled in your couch corner with a scratchy voice, too:

1. Don’t apologize. I kept saying how sorry I was to miss this call or have to move this meeting. I am so over all the misplaced sorry-saying. Do you think that guilt made me start feeling any better at all? To get sick in the Fall during cold season with kids in elementary school and daycare is to be human, let’s be human together.