Coping with illness is hard at the best of times. Coping with illness when life is hectic is even harder.

Many people tell us that the urge to keep on working when they are sick is strong. They worry that work will back up while they take sick leave, and feel they are letting clients, or colleagues, or both, down while they are off.

While this thinking is understandable, it’s not very helpful! We are more likely to recover properly and more quickly when we take time to rest and recuperate properly. It’s also unhelpful to go to work sick and spread germs around the office.

You may want to talk with colleagues and your manager about how to create a culture in your team/organisation where taking time out when you are ill is seen as a positive thing and the best strategy, rather than “battling on through”. Ask for help if you find it hard, give your family or friends or colleagues permission to nudge (nag) you, and to give you support to help you create a different pattern.

Coping with a serious illness is a real challenge, and one where we will need all our resilience. As well as talking with your medical professionals, see if some of the information and suggestions in these resources are helpful:

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/chronic-illness.aspx

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/copingwithphysicalillness.aspx

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/chronic-illness

For ideas on supporting a friend or colleague, or a child, Skylight has some helpful suggestions of things we can do that can help:

https://www.skylight.org.nz/search/results?utf8=✓&term=illness