A Day Off: A Productive Sick Day

This article could also be called, ‘The Art Of Being Horizontal’. When we’re all sick we push, push, push, and push until we’re too ill, and then it takes forever to get better. Now, I’m not about to tell you many different ways to not get sick. We all do, and there’s no magical equation to never catch a cold or the flu. It’s all about how much we push ourselves, and how far we push ourselves.

The first thing to do is, if you can, as soon as you know you’re beginning to fall with fever, take a day off, or, at least as much of the day off as you are able. Stay in bed as long as you can muster, take a hot bath, and treat yourself lying low for the entire day. Being able to stop pushing yourself for twenty-four hours will give your mind and body enough time to curb away from illness. It’s like a buffer. If you are able to take a step back when you’re on the verge, it’ll be enough time for your body to heal itself. That way, you won’t really get sick at all. It might seem that this happens a lot, but it’s a lot better, when you’re building up immunity, than being sick for one, two, or three weeks at a time.

The second thing? If you do get sick? And you get to take time off until you’re better? Stay. Horizontal. Sometimes, that means closing your eyes and staying in bed and staying asleep, but this is an article on being productive while having a fever, so this won’t be about that.

When horizontal, your computer and your phone are your best friends. Stay in bed, make sure you have something light, like soup, for your stomach, and make sure you have tissues and a garbage can handy. In between blowing your nose, make those phone calls you’d have to make at another time, type out whatever information you need to from those calls. Make sure you have Vaseline, or at least a cotton ball and extra virgin olive oil, around for when your nostrils become tender. 

After you’re done making whatever calls were on your to-do list, take a rest. Nap, if you can, for about a half an hour to an hour. Allow yourself to rest. Stay in bed, and rest more if your body needs it. This isn’t about sleeping. The best naps are sometimes spent awake. Allowing your body and your mind to relax will help you get better, even without actively snoozing.

After your rest, get back to work. Whatever you need to do on the computer, either for your job or for yourself, get done. Just because you’re home doesn’t mean you can’t work. A lot of jobs can be done remotely without you having to step into the office. As long as you stay in bed and away from the outdoors, you can blow your nose into tissues and get all of your daily work done. If you have a meeting that day, ask if you can join on Zoom. 

If you’re a workaholic like me, then you know the value of Zoom, your smartphone (sometimes, also known as a ‘dumb phone’), and your laptop. If you bring those into bed with you on your sick day, then it’s a lot like you made your mattress your office. 

And, as long as you’re capable of taking a step back when you’re mind gets tired, and laying down, you’ll be better the day after. Taking a sick day this way only works to stop you from fully getting sick. As long as you take off when you know you’re getting ill, work from bed, and make sure to keep healthful juices — such as cranberry, apple, acai, or orange — by your side as you work, you’ll get your vitamins and your work done at the same time.

This doesn’t mean you won’t find times where you’ll be much, much, much more ill the next day, but at least you won’t take your entire office with you. 

Take in your vitamin C, and promise yourself that you won’t work yourself to the bone. We work to live, not the other way around… unless, of course, you’re like me and you love your job.