Sick It To Me

Remember the good ol’ days when you woke up with a sniffle or a scratchy throat and you decided it was in the best interest of your co-workers to take a sick day? (Oh, you are so altruistic.) 

While most of us A-type workaholics (often times referred to as entrepreneurs) keep our sick days few and far between, every once in a while there used to be just cause to curl up under the covers and take a pass on the world.

These days, it feels like it’s verboten to pull the sick card. The minute you utter a word of illness (or heaven forbid, you cough!), the COVID sirens start ringing and those around you start questioning your symptoms like they work for the Ministry of Health. 

Aside from causing undue panic, don’t you think this makes all the other illnesses feel left out? OK, I jest, but in life before COVID, we could feel off without having all of our gory symptoms on display.  

For example, must I tell someone that I’m bloated and gassy in order to qualm their concerns that I might be hosting the virus? Apparently, I do. And not only do we not get to poop in privacy, but what used to justify a day off has been relegated to a brief bathroom break. 

I feel like I’m living in a fish bowl, with my every move, cough and calendar entry on display. If we’re not commuting or congregating, then we must obviously be sitting at our desks (or on our sofas) with our computers at the ready. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of being not sick but too tired. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Ahhhhh. It felt good to get that out of my system. Speaking of my system, there is another vicious poison playing with our heads and that is the “I think I have COVID” syndrome. How many times have you self-diagnosed yourself in the last 10 months? I think I’m going on 17 or 200, but who’s counting? It just takes the slightest chill, the most subtle headache or the faintest cough to send most of us scrolling through Google to determine our fate. But sadly, there are no days off for hypochondria. 

So what’s my point? Good question.

With these posts, I usually try to impart some life lesson or insight that can help others. But sometimes, it feels good to vent and know that I’m speaking for others. But if there is a whisper of wisdom here, I guess it would be to offer compassion to others (and ourselves), and provide some space for the “blah” days. You don’t always need a reason or a doctor’s note, or a play by play of your menstrual cycle. Instead of Zooming in, you can check out, crawl under the covers, and call it a sick day. It’s the healthy choice.