Can You Take a Sick Day When You're Self-Employed?

It’s a difficult question for freelancers to answer.

Can you afford to take a sick day when you work for yourself?

On the one hand, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

On the other hand, if you’re body is trying to tell you something — or if your head hurts so much that you just can’t look at the computer screen — you need to listen to it and give yourself some time to recuperate.

This question ended up being more immediately relevant that I expected it to be.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt miserable. I’m not one of those people who gets little head colds. When I get sick, I get sick — head, throat, sinuses, muscle aches, the whole shebang. I ended up spending most of the day asleep, reading, or drinking giant mugs of hot water with lemon, honey, and apple cider vinegar.

But, as we all know, it’s hard to take a whole day off when you work for yourself.

So how did I handle my sick day?

1. If you can, take the whole day off.

I know. It’s a weird thought, and it can be hard to persuade yourself that it’s okay. But if your workload is light, or you feel like you can put everything off until tomorrow, take the whole day off. Your body will thank you.

But, if you’re like me and have a hard time spending a whole day not working (or have something pressing that needs to be finished) skip to step two.

2. Pick 1-2 things that you can get done.

What you pick depends on how sick you are. If you’re up to it, you can pick more involved things, like writing a blog post or working on something for a client. If you’re really feeling ill, pick something undemanding, like clearing out your inbox or catching up on some social media marketing.

3. Listen to your body.

If your body is telling you to sleep for three hours, listen to it. If you’re throat is incredibly sore, don’t make any phone calls. Don’t push yourself too far — if you’re sick, you’re sick, and you need time to recover.

I’m the first one to admit that I find it difficult to take time off. But remember, if you don’t give yourself time to relax and recover, you’ll just end up sicker in the long run. That means even more time off further down the road.