WHO WE’LL BE AFTER THIS

We Have to Get Over Our Fear of Taking Sick Days

In the After, each of us owes it to ourselves and the world to stay home. A lot.

Annaliese Griffin
Forge
Published in
4 min readJul 9, 2020

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Disheveled young woman laying in bed holding tissue and tissue box.
Photo: Cavan Images/Getty Images

One day, when we’re all properly vaccinated, and it’s possible to sneeze in public without freaking out everyone in a 20-foot radius, I’ll… be staying home.

The pandemic has proven to all of us that staying home works — individually and collectively. We’ve demonstrated that we have the power to flatten all the curves. We can stop the spread of every hacking cough and head cold if we all just curled up at home for a day of drinking red Gatorade and watching Schitt’s Creek when we felt bad.

Which is why I am going to start taking all the sick days. Real sick days, with tea and naps on the couch and no laptop. I’ll be taking sick days because I’m actually sick. I’ll be taking sick days to make up for sick days I didn’t take in the past. And I’m learning to let go of the idea, ingrained in so many of us, that being “tough” is the same as doing whatever is furthest from meeting our needs.

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Annaliese Griffin
Forge
Writer for

Annaliese Griffin is a writer and editor who most recently led the Quartz Daily Obsession, an award-winning newsletter. She lives in Vermont with her family.