Are You Putting Your Work Before Your Health?
No job is worth sacrificing your health for. Despite this, many of us continue to work jobs that are bad for our health. This could include continuing to work a manual labor job that is causing increasing amounts of back pain or continuing to work a stressful job that is causing depression.
Finding the right solution isn’t always easy. This post outlines a few tips on what you should do if your work is affecting your health.
Understand the risks of ignoring the problem
Ignoring the problem is never the solution. Ignoring a repetitive strain injury could cause it to evolve into a chronic injury. Ignoring depression could result in your mood gradually getting worse until you become suicidal.
Understand that in many cases the problem will only get worse. It could also become harder and more expensive to treat the long you delay it.
Stop using excuses for not seeing a doctor
If you haven’t yet seen a doctor for a health problem, you should do so immediately. Running tests could be important for checking just how severe the problem is.
People often use excuses such as the fact that they are too busy to see a doctor or that they cannot afford to get treatment. There are many solutions out there such as virtual appointments and specialist treatment options for those on a low income. For acute health problems, you may even be able to save time and money by considering options like urgent care instead of visiting a hospital. You can also use online pharmacies to order medication to your address if you don’t have time to collect it.
Consider ways of making your work/workplace less damaging to your health
If work is to blame for your health problem, consider if there are ways of making your work less damaging.
You may be able to talk to an employer about switching roles or giving up certain duties. A good employer should take your health concerns seriously and try to accommodate them.
If you are self-employed, consider what you can do yourself to reduce any hazards. Are there health and safety measures you should be taking to protect yourself such as wearing equipment or improving your posture? Is it time you hired or outsourced help for certain tasks that may be physically or mentally wearing you away? This could allow you to maintain your job while reducing the damage.
Know when to take a break
Sometimes a break is needed to recover. If you don’t choose to take a break yourself, your mind or body will eventually take a break for you in the form of burnout or a debilitating injury.
Make sure that you’re using your vacation. If you’ve used up all your vacation, take sick leave if you need it. A good employer will be understanding. If you’re self-employed, you have only yourself holding you back.
Taking a break may not always be convenient if you’ve got important projects coming up or if you’ve got big expenses coming up, but your health ultimately needs to come first. Understand that while people may be inconvenienced, most people will be sympathetic towards health problems - you can compensate people later and borrow money in the meantime if necessary.
Planning for sickness is the ultimate solution - particularly if you’re self-employed. Arranging people to cover you or having sickness insurance in place could help you to more freely take absence when you need it.
