Never take sick days when you’re sick

I find I don’t take sick days when I’m sick. I take them when I need them, when I wake up and just can’t face it, or the stress of trying to deal with other facets of life has gotten the better of me. This happens once, maybe twice a quarter. And as a result, I think it helps keep me from having to take sick days when I’m phsyically sick. Knock wood I don’t jinx myself, but actually, I think I’m on to something here…

I began doing this because I have a crippling case of TMJ…when it gets out of control, I’m down for the count. Once, I was in mortal pain for nearly two weeks…so much pain, I couldn’t do anything other than writhe in pain. Couldn’t even watch television (yeah, I had one back then). I now watch myself and try to keep my stress level manageable. People who create stress, rather than help alleviate it, are summarily dismissed. I don’t put myself in stressful situations, if I can help it, and over the years I’ve been able to manage the TMJ more effectively.

So the next time you wake up and really don’t want to face the day, call the boss, tell em you’re sick, and crawl back into bed…or go to the beach…or the movies…or a bike ride. You owe it to yourself. And if I’m right, it'll result in you having to take fewer days off when you’re actually sick, because you won’t be! Everybody wins.