Take A Sick Day, You've Earned It

I hardly ever take a sick day. I am not sure why, I guess I was just raised that if you don’t feel good, just tough it out. But that is all changing. . . or at least it should.

I had a headache on Monday morning. It could have been from the overload of Monday emails or the lack of caffeine . . .but I took some aspirin and tried to ignore it. Then I started to feel hot and nauseous. As I am sitting at my desk thinking I can tough it out, I had a flashback to a presentation from the previous week regarding the H1N1 flu virus . . . if you are sick, go home and stay home. . . .stay away from others.

So I quickly left the office to retreat to the comfort of my couch. I started to feel better early that evening, so thankfully I did not have the flu. This little health blip made me realize I don’t have everything I need if I have to stay home for an extended period. Those cans of black beans and enchilada sauce are not enough to get me on the road to better health.

The Center for Disease Control offers a flu checklist that includes non-perishable grocery items (granola, soup, crackers) and medical needs (thermometer, ibuprofen, stomach remedies). This checklist will make sure I have the stuff on hand that I will need to start feeling better. More importantly, I won’t have to take a trip to the store when I am feeling sick and could be infecting others.

So listen up Lou (my supervisor), I am going to be fighting the urge to tough it out and will likely be using up some of my sick days this year.

On a related note, check out the aerial spray effect of a sneeze (thanks Maricopa County Public Health).