As I am suffering from fever 😂

        'As I am suffering from fever' is a common (unforgettable) phrase we all had come cross.😂 This is how most of our generation were taught to write a leave letter while in school as our teachers thought 'physical sickness' would be the only predominant reason. We couldn't get over it even after years 😜 Such an impact it has on us! Interestingly, we still spill those words among friends while we are about to apply for leave in our offices. Most cite sickness as reason for leave which according to me has come from this loooonnnngggg history of letter writing practice given in our English classes. Children during school days give reasons of condolences in families (true in rare cases and mostly this practice is taught by parents) which change as we grow older. Personality of us is tuned in such a way that 'safe reasons' are to be stated in order to get our leave request sanctioned by our superiors.

       Only two types of decision could be made toward our request.

1. Accepted

2. Rejected

         If one has her/his leave eligibility, no matter what your reason is, it will be accepted in almost all cases, except for any emergency situation in the office

        If one doesn't have enough number of leave days to her/his credit, either the application would be rejected and if insisted those days would be treated as loss of pay.

        Doesn't it sound simple!!! Yes. Still, we hunt for 'safe reasons'. This could be attributed to the personality of our superior which matters in this matter to a good extent. They vary from being cordial to highly rude, from being empathetic to autocratic. As we have no direct control over their personality & behaviour, we tend to play games safe at workplace, let alone leave request.

  

        These being on one side, we have quite a few celebrities who take off from their work citing their mental health reasons on the flip side. Naomi Osaka from French Open, Ben Stokes from England Test & Simone Biles from Olympics are some examples. They attracted excess attention due to this fact, yet they showed the world that they respect their body, mind and soul more than any media pressure. This trend leads to the realization of 'it's okay not to be okay.' and it is important to 'admit the same'.

        The reason we state does not matter as long as we are able to take off from our work. No one would have questioned these celebrities if they had cited any physical injury. But they have made a difference now!!! 

        Well, Won't it make a difference if we are able to cite the exact, honest, real reason for the need of a break? Who stops us from doing so? To go out with family/friends, to watch a movie at home with children to de-stress, to clean the mess at our house, to jump on our beds for a full day rest, to finish the last few pages of novel that we could not resist, to get the water tank cleaned or to just stay idle at home are all as much fair reasons as our sickness card is. These things could be done on a weekend is totally out of context. 

 

         I would proudly say that as a subordinate I keep my superior informed of the real reason and as a superior I have always appreciated my colleagues doing so. If we presume that our superiors will not appreciate, it is high time that we start doing it every single time we apply for leave and normalize the whole process. End of the day, it is our inner happiness & peace that would drive us to work and increase our productivity. Normalizing our casual leaves certainly is a key factor in contributing to that inner happiness! This does not take a big effort, after all it is nothing but being honest to oneself! 💕

 

 

P.S.: This does not apply to those who have no intention of performing/being efficient at work at all!

    And as far children and leave are concerned, that will be discussed in another post!!