Grind Culture & PTO - Video Transcript

Hey I'm Kristen the anxiety therapist and today I'm going to be talking about valid reasons to call out of work or take some PTO um this directly correlates with anxiety and burnout and I think we sort of live in this grind culture where we really tend to value people who work at all hours of the night and um that's just not healthy because it leads to long term problems.

And we sort of have a hard time connecting with our future selves. So we don't necessarily think that what we're doing in the moment is necessarily going to have a sort of cumulative effect on our future selves. But it's the people who are constantly working and never taking breaks and not taking care of themselves physically and emotionally who are the ones who are you know having heart attacks in their 40s or um having other health issues that come from stress. So a lot of times people the clients I work with who do tend to be overachievers or perfectionists or sort of productivity addicts.

Um they have a hard time with this right? They are constantly working and have a really hard time taking off from work. And A recent Glassdoor survey actually found that 54% of people um leave about half of their p. T. O. On the table 66% of employees work while they were on vacation. So um a lot of times we feel like we need an external reason to take off from work that our needs are not enough.

So I'm here to give you permission to give you that valid external reason to take off. So um the first one is if you're feeling sick or caring for a sick child right you're not going to be functioning at your best if you aren't feeling well and if you push yourself to go into work when you're sick then that's just going to delay your ability to get healthy again right?

As opposed to taking a day rest, staying in bed, sleep it off and you will likely feel better a lot more quickly. Another reason is if you have a doctor’s appointment, whether this is you know a checkup or if you actually have a problem that you want to address, it's important to maintain your overall health. And a doctor's appointment is a valid reason to take off of work.

Um if you're grieving or mourning or you're caring for a family member who is grieving or mourning um that's a valid reason to call out of work. It also is very dependent upon whether you think this would be beneficial. So some people find that being distracted and going to work is actually helpful in their grieving process.

But if you have lost someone very close to you and you are just kind of falling apart um you don't need to be at work, take take the day, take a few days off um taking a mental health break these you know I think more recently these are starting to be worked into um some of the company culture at certain organizations.

But if you just like with physical illness, if you are not feeling well mentally and emotionally you are not going to be able to function your best at work. And taking that time to restore that mental and emotional energy is going to make you more productive the next day or the next week as opposed to if you disregarding those feelings and those needs that could lead to a major depressive episode or a panic attack or you know a number of other things.

Um where again we see sort of that cumulative effect of the stress and anxiety. Another reason or valid reason to take PTO is if you have a to-do list um that requires you to be available during work hours. So an example of this might be going to the d. M. V. They're not open on the weekends or after five.

So you have to go during work hours. Um a few years ago I had to take the day off to go get my passport renewed to go to downtown Chicago. So those are valid reasons to take time off and then finally if you're going on vacation, so many people have a hard time scheduling vacation and taking that time they think that things are going to fall apart at the office.

If they take a vacation and if they do take the vacation they're working throughout a portion of it. And I recognize that you know, we can't necessarily go off the grid for a week. That might be unrealistic but definitely set an out-of-office message so that you're managing people's expectations in regard to your response times and then maybe check your email, you know, once a day or every few days and, and don't get pulled into things that are not necessarily urgent or time-sensitive, which is really easy to do.

Um, I think a lot of times we overvalue ourselves in terms of how much we're needed at work and we have a hard time relinquishing that control and delegating to other people. And it's important that in order for us to take a rest to take a break, that we, we have to relinquish that control and trust that other people will, will keep the ship afloat, so to speak.

Um, and especially with women, there can be this sense of uh sort of being a martyr where you know, I don't take time off or I work such crazy hours or you know, i, I work and I'm a mom and I don't take any time for myself and almost like um wearing that as a badge of honor when in reality that is just detracting from your ability to be at your best in all areas of your life.

You know, you, you can't be the best parent or the best um employee, if you are not taking care of yourself. So I think the important message here is to give yourself the opportunity to rest and restore. Um just like you plug in your phone at night when you go to bed to charge its batteries.

Humans are the same. We need to recharge our batteries. And this will be easier to do for some than others. But um I'm giving you permission to take care of yourself and give yourself the rest that you deserve and to to get your needs met. So next time, have a great weekend and I'll see you then.