jadelyn:

neuroticgaymusings:

marigoldwitch:

Growing up my parents taught me that if you’re too sick to [insert responsibility here] then you’re too sick to [insert something that makes you happy here].

It took me a really long time to unlearn this. When I would get sick or have a “bad day” I would deprive myself of anything that made me happy. Watching movies, eating something I enjoyed, going for a walk, playing video games or just browsing online looking at funny cat videos. I wouldn’t let myself do these things because I was always told that if I’m too sick to go to work, or do homework, or go to school then I must be too sick to play Mortal Kombat or watch Unsolved Mysteries lol.

Whenever I wouldn’t feel good, which I later learned as an adult was due to sleep deprivation caused by my ADHD and depression (and of course the depression itself would cause me to feel like shit), my parents would tell me “if you’re not throwing up, then you’re not sick.” And when I would stay home from school (or even work in my later teen years) my parents would make sure that I didn’t have any “fun.” No TV, no movies, no games, no going outside, no arts and crafts, no books, no nothing. Just lay in bed and feel miserable.

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I’m happy to say that I no longer do this to myself. Now when I’m having a bad day or I’m sick (cold, flu or whatever) I allow myself to do the things (within reason lol) that I actually love doing. If I’m not too sick to step outside for a few minutes then I’ll go for a walk. I’ll watch my favorite movies and if it’s a bad day or a cold (something that doesn’t hinder my appetite too much) I’ll eat my favorite foods. I don’t guilt trip myself anymore for having a “sick day.”

Just because you’re sick (whether physically, emotionally or mentally) doesn’t mean that you can’t do things you enjoy. You’re not any less sick because you watch TV. You’re not any less sick because you’re playing video games. 

Actually you SHOULD be doing these things when you’re not feeling good because they make you feel better. The better you feel, the faster your heal. 

Thank you! I needed to read this.

My job isn’t physically demanding – I work in an office doing data analysis and database system configuration and maintenance stuff. I’m a spreadsheets nerd, basically. On my days off, I play games on my computer. So you’d think, I’m just spending all day staring at a screen either way, right? So if I’m too sick for one, I should be too sick for the other. Right?

But there’s a huge difference in effort required for pulling myself out of bed to my computer 20 feet away in the room down the hall, where I can huddle in my chair with a blanket and dick around in Stardew Valley or go blow shit up in Warframe all day without ever talking to another human being aside from Ozz, versus getting up early, making myself look professional and polished, leaving on time, driving to work, and spending 8 hours sitting up straight, interacting with people (which means being socially “on” and keeping up professional demeanor as well as appearance), attending meetings and making calls, having to be focused and mentally “on” enough to keep my work accurate and produce the high-quality deliverables my team relies on me for. If going to work requires an 8 out of 10 on the functionality scale, and playing a videogame requires like a 3, then it’s very easy to be too sick to go to work, without necessarily being depleted down to a 0 and unable to do anything other than laying in bed being miserable. It’s not a contradiction to say “I’m too sick to put out the effort to go to work/school” and also “I am not too sick to play videogames” even if they’re both “just sitting at a computer”.

I’ve even outright said as much when I’ve been feeling crappy and needed to leave early. “Look, I’m not functional enough to actually be productive right now, so I can either sit here and stare blankly at my work screen, or I can go home and stare blankly at my videogame screen, and if I’m not accomplishing much of anything either way I’d rather not be here wasting everyone’s time / the company’s money paying me for work I’m not doing.”

aetheric-aesthetic:

Crimson Leaf