We all have our days where we just can’t go on. Oftentimes we will tell ourselves, “Oh it’s nothing! I’m fine.” However, in reality, we are in desperate need for a day off. Unfortunately, we are afraid to because we think that we owe our job something. What we need to realize is that we need that day off because it’s our health will suffer and the company will simply move on without us.
I used to think that, “Oh I need to come to work and never take a day off. It looks good if I show up all of the time because I want to prove to my boss that I am a hard worker.” Unfortunately, I suffered a bad burnout. At one of my jobs I worked understaffed for almost 3 weeks. I was really sick, coughing up a lung, and sometimes could barely breath or think straight. But I told myself,” It will all pass”. I suffered in my own silence thinking that it would pass but it never did. So I did what I had to do and took time off.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t you just call out sooner, stand up for yourself and etc. Well, I’m what you would call a strong person. I never like to admit defeat, I pride myself on being so good that nobody can even touch me, and I always want to raise the bar so high that nobody can keep up with me. In summary, my ego just couldn’t take the truth. The truth was that I just didn’t know my boundaries.
In life, you have to just take a day off from work. Now, I’m not implying that you take months off, skip interviews, become lazy, or blatantly defiant. I’m just saying you need to take a day off only to recuperate. Whether you want to hear this or not, your job will be fine with or without you. The show will go on even if you die.
Lastly, taking time off is not selfish, At your job you are supposed to come in, do your job, and go home. Be kind to everyone and help others but never push yourself to mere exhaustion to prove, “how strong you are” like I did because if I wasn’t careful, I could have lost my life. I want to leave you with this documentary that will give all of you a better insight of workplace exhaustion. After you’ve watched this video I hope that you too will take some time off for your own well-being.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=burnout+uk+documentary
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