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You know the feeling: you wake up with a scratchy throat, and the next thing you know your sinuses are clogged, you’re congested, you’ve got bouts of fever - you have the flu! You call out of work sick, use up sick time if you have any, and just as you might be getting better, you have to stay home additional days to care for the kids who have caught the bug and aren’t allowed at their childcare provider or school until it passes. And how many times will this happen this winter? You’re stressed, you go back to work with a ton of catching up to do and worried that if you don’t completely prove yourself to your employer, they might have a little chat with you about taking a whole week off!

I have been down with a bad cold all week and it struck me that one great thing about telecommuting is that you take far less sick days! Had I needed to go in the office and expose all of my co-workers to my illness, I would have taken 4 days off know doubt, probably more with all the nights I was up into the wee hours with my two year olds restlessness caused by cough and fever. As it is, with the comfort of my couch, my medicines and teas all around me, and no threat of making the entire office sick, I’ve only missed about a day and a half when it just got too bad to be on my laptop. And, if I get better before Sunday night, I can always make up a few hours this weekend.

Sick days are NEVER fun, (unless of course, you’ve made that part up and really you’re going to Mardi Gras- which I know NONE of you would dream of doing!). But when you have the flexibility of working during the hours of the day that your symptoms are a little more mild, and you don’t add on the stress and anxiety of losing work, it can be a LOT less devastating.

If you’re already telecommuting and are struggling because you’re sick, remember to take advantage of your situation. Drink plenty of fluids, keep a waste basket and Kleenex handy, and if need be, make a doctor’s appointment; all things you can do so easily with a flexible schedule.

Get well soon!

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