It’s all my fault.
You see, after we took a bit of a festive holiday break, it was back to work for a flurry of catchup stuff, and then I took another short holiday - and came down with COVID. It’s the second time I’ve had it, and my symptoms are just as bad as the first.
Especially when you’re in a tent.
Fever. Intense, sickening dizziness. Brain fog. Fatigue. Difficulty breathing. Chest pain. It’s awful, and a stark reminder for a pretty fit and healthy lad that COVID is absolutely not something to minimise.
In fact, over the last couple of weeks, there’s no way my brain has been up to working - let alone talking to Martin late at night. Brain fog is bad enough for your day-to-day life; forget trying to be a creative worker or a social human being. Forget trying to comprehend big, complicated projects. Forget walking the dog. Forget…a lot of things.
I managed to squeeze in some important work for a regular client on Friday, but I know it wasn’t my best and I ended up revising it on the weekend. I managed to meet with one returning and one new client, and while I landed the deals, it felt like my whole existence was mired in molasses. It took every speck of energy I had to stay coherent and professional.
Even then, my notes were weak, and I’ve had to ask more [possibly stupid] questions than I normally would.
The whole experience made me think about how we freelancers have to prioritise looking after ourselves.
We all get sick. It’s a fact of life.
And, as freelancers, getting sick is a real problem. There’s nobody we can call to say we’re not coming in today. There’s no sick pay. And there’s no replacement for the relief you feel when you finally admit that you’re sick, that you’ve got the day off, and you can just lie down and binge Seinfeld guilt-free.
I am lucky enough to have a supportive wife who took care of everything while I convalesced for a whole week. I truly don’t know what I would have done without her. Even two weeks later, I can scarcely walk the dog without needing a rest halfway through, and I still have to have a lie down at least once a day with dizzy spells.
This is not a pity plea - it’s a different kind of plea.
Please, put aside some sick pay.
At least a week, if not two. Because this is not my first COVID rodeo, and certainly not the first time I’ve put myself in an unhealthy position, and it is absolutely not the last time I will get sick.
So: I’ve done it. Made a new savings account called ‘Sick Pay’ with an automatic transfer each month. It’ll take a while to build up, just like any job. But I know that should I come down with a winter bug in a few months, I can take a few days off to recover without feeling like I have to work.
Strangely, I already feel better.
That’s my advice to all of you out there, and it bears repeating: make a new savings account and call it ‘Sick Pay’. Top it up regularly, until you have at least enough money to last you a week - if not two. (How much is that? Well, that’s another topic - but I reckon at least 40 hours at about 80% of your hourly rate, is a basic amount).
Hurry up: do it right away. Open a new tab and do it online if you can.
For now, I’m going to sign off and start trying to catch up on work.
The podcast will be back next week (all things going well).
Stay healthy!
- H