It’s not you. The system is rigged.

Last week someone I know was sick with a cough, runny nose and body aches.

They were only able to take naps throughout the day and incapable of doing any of their work.

They asked me why it was "paralyzing" to just send a message to their team that they were sick... because in fact, they were sick.

I mentioned to them that it was not their fault that they were feeling "paralyzed" (⬅️ their words) to send this message.

After the past two years, you may have already realized that we live in a culture that expects us to count our value only when we are productive. In this case, specifically at our jobs.

(Don't even get me started on productivity of working parents, BIPOC, SAHMs, etc.)

And because our culture believes productivity equals value that means we also have been brought up to believe that productivity equals value even if intellectually we know it's not the case.

And it therefore becomes paralyzing to even imagine going against the “norm.”

Which stops us from sending a seemingly simple message to say we're out for the day (or gasp... longer for a vacation that we earned).

On top of that because we are trained to believe this productivity myth we also believe that our co-workers are going to look down on us and think that we're not contributing enough.

And guess what they might think that OR what I've seen is that our co-workers actually appreciate us taking a sick day because then THEY can take a sick day, too.

When you create boundaries, ask for sick days, and take vacation days YOU are setting a new example for yourself (because it feels icky and paralyzing the first few times we do it) and for your team.

What better gift to give your co-workers than the feeling of feeling valued whether or not they're being productive.

Are you taking sick days or have you just been pushing through it since you can't "spread the germs" while working from home?

Let me know if you need support in taking that next vacation because honey it's already April and you need a break.

With love + joy,

Nic