A Sick Day for my Sanity

I started my job with a pro-rated total of 4.62 sick days. I waited two months before feeling comfortable (and sick) enough to finally use one. 

There’s something wonderfully beautiful about a sick day. Whether it’s the hours of lounging on the sofa, or the ability to watch “Price is Right” (although, let’s be honest Drew Carey doesn’t hold a candle to Bob Barker), the occasional sick day is necessary for your physical and mental health. For me, my sick day came not only as a time to recoup from a migraine, but also as a time for me to regroup on where I stand after two months on my job. The implications of the huge transition in my life were coming crashing down on me, leaving me with a not-so-cheery disposition.

About 20 million Americans have a mood disorder and about 40 million have an anxiety disorder. I can’t imagine spending 40 hours (or more) per week at a job cannot be helping to alleviate these health problems, or for that matter, what about spending 40 years with one company could do to a person. 

My parents have worked at their jobs for nearly 30 years, and after two months at my job, I have no idea how they’ve done it. I can’t shake the feeling of being trapped in a lifetime of work. But there’s hope in the fact that frequent job changes are more the norm these days and can actually make life more stable and fulfilling. 

After spending eight hours on a Tuesday at home instead of at a cubicle, I remembered that a lifetime of work isn’t all that’s in my life. Happiness can come in a lot of forms, like a hobby. Sometimes it takes being a breaking point, and taking a sick day, to really evaluate a situation.

-Rachel