Why Do We Feel Guilty for Taking a Sick Day?

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😉 For when you want to feel put together, start with what you’re wearing underneath.*

🛌 Finally, some good news: waking up at 5 a.m. doesn’t make you more productive!

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BetterHelp

Winter Is Heavy—You Don’t Have to Carry It Alone 

Things we love about a new year: fresh starts, new planners, cozy nights in, and convincing ourselves this is THE year we get our sh*t together.

Things we don’t love: the post-holiday crashout, the sun setting at 4 p.m., and realizing things don’t magically reset themselves.

That’s where a little extra support comes in. Therapy is one of the best ways to work through it all—and BetterHelp makes it super easy.

📱 Talk by phone, video, or chat—wherever you are
🤝 Get matched with a therapist in as little as 24 hours
🧰 Access guided tools and support right in the app
⭐ Rated 4.9/5 by over 1.7 million users
☀️ 72% of users report feeling better in just 12 weeks

And since winter can feel… heavy, you can get 25% off your first month. Consider this your sign to take that “I’ll try therapy this year” promise seriously.

Stop Feeling Guilty For Taking a Sick Day!

POV: You woke up with a supremely stuffed nose and sore throat, 🤧 but you feel nervous about taking a sick day because you have a ton of deadlines you need to meet, or you just started a new job, or you just got back from vacation last week, or, or, or … the list goes on! 😱

You’re not alone: according to a recent LiveCareer report, 59% of US workers feel uneasy taking time off, with top concerns being work piling up, missing out on opportunities, and being perceived as less committed. 😔 And now that remote work is a thing, you can just do your job from bed… right?!

We get it: your reasons for feeling nervous to take a sick day are valid, but that doesn’t mean they’re more important than your well-being. With that in mind, here are a few simple ways to take that sick day guilt-free.

✅ Set yourself up for success

Having team-wide (or company-wide!) policies for how to cover for each other when you’re sick can take a lot of the anxiety out of taking time off. It can be as simple as introducing a standard “who/what/when” style doc that outlines who can answer questions in your absence, plus any important projects and pressing deadlines. 

If this sounds like a good idea to you, but you know your company wouldn’t go for it, take matters into your own hands and include these details in your email to your boss when you let them know you’re taking a sick day. This way, you’re giving them all the tools they need to survive without you. 😉

🤖 Let tech help you out

Many of the work tools you use on the daily are introducing new AI tools that can make your work easier, especially when you’re taking time off. Case in point: Zoom’s new AI Companion can summarize any calls you miss and then compile a list of all the action items that were discussed, and Slack’s Slackbot can provide you with daily recaps of all your channels*, so you don’t have to waste time scrolling endlessly through internal chats when you’re back at your desk. 👏

🫂 Remember: you’re human

It may seem counterintuitive, but rest can actually be productive when you need it (after all, sick days exist for a reason!). Catching a cold isn’t a personal failing, and as important as your work may seem, we promise that your health is exponentially more valuable. 😘 Plus, you taking a sick day might even empower a coworker to take a sick day when they need it, too. 💪

🛍️ Sézane just dropped their collab with Sea NY, and this darling quilted jacket is too good not to add to cart. 

📰 Kamela, Girlboss’ content marketing manager, loves reading The Know, an uplifting weekday digest that keeps you informed, inspired, and far from the doomscroll spiral.

💕 Trader Joe’s Valentine’s Day items have arrived! The Chocolate & Peanut Butter Lover's Nut Mix is our absolute fave midday work snack. We highly recommend stocking up. 

🎶 In celebration of High School Musical’s 20th anniversary, best believe we’ve been blasting the soundtrack and cackling to ourselves over these memes. 

📚 Contributor Lara started reading Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods after she saw Taylor Swift listening to the audiobook version in her Eras tour doc (lol!), and she’s calling it the best book she’s read in the past year.

🍎 Commercial Legal Counsel, Apple

✈️ Manager, Project Planning, American Airlines

💋 Analyst, Finance, Sephora

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