1. You Feel Terrible
For your own sake, stay home. If you feel terrible, why would you want to go out in public? Your body is telling you to rest and recuperate.
2. Quicker Recovery
If you push yourself when you should be resting, it will likely actually take you longer to recover than if you stay home, drink water, sip soup, and take plenty of vitamin C. When you have the flu, you should not feel guilty lounging on the couch and taking plenty of naps.
3. Lower Productivity at Work and School
Many feel pressure to get into work or school so as not to let bosses or professors down. In reality, when you are sick your productivity is severely hampered. Likely you will not be doing anyone any favors by showing up sick. Stay home and rest so you can be at your best and return to your duties quicker. Missed days tend to cost a company less than lowered productivity due to illness.
4. Failure to Deliver
With decreased productivity comes the real possibility that you will let down clients or miss deadlines. If this happens, it can be hard to rebuild professional relationships and trust.
5. It Is Considerate
No one likes to be in the cubicle next to a person that has a horrible hacking cough. No parent likes to pick up their child from school to see another kid there with thick green mucus smeared across their face, and no one appreciates being sneezed on in the grocery line. For the sake of others in your community, stay home.
6. Germ Control
If you knowingly go out into public when you have the flu you are subjecting everyone you come into close proximity with to your nasty and highly contagious germs. This is how the illness gets spread. Anything you touch or breath on becomes an incubator of germs.
7. Telecommuting and Other Work From Home Options Are Often Available
In an age of technology, often telecommuting opportunities are available until you feel completely better. This is helpful if you are beginning to feel better, but still not well enough to return to work.
8. It Could Be a Matter of Life and Death for Others
There are people in our society with compromised immune systems due to age, illness, or pregnancy that cannot afford to get the flu. While it is miserable, the flu is somewhat benign for most people, but for some it can be deadly.
9. It Could Be a Matter of Life and Death for You
Even if you are a healthy middle aged adult, the flu can carry deadly consequences. It is impossible to predict what exact course the illness will take, and complications are possible. It is essential that you take care of yourself and let your body heal to try to avoid any dangerous complications.
10. Set a Healthy Precedent
Respecting and letting the “sick you” rest and heal in the present will set the stage for taking better care of the “healthy you” in the future. Often being sick can be the motivation needed to start down a healthier path.