Last weekend the Federal government shut down. Trump wanted his wall, the Dems wanted to protect the Dreamers, and the Republicans wanted a temporary funding bill to keep things going. No one got what they wanted, and thousands of federal workers got a forced furlough.

But not for long. The shutdown started Friday at midnight and lasted barely 72 hours.  All that buildup, but for most Federal employees, just one lousy day off. Let’s hope my furlough is this short.

Furloughed By The Flu

Yeah, it finally happened. Despite my flu shot and obsessive hand washing, I came home last night with a scratchy throat. This morning I woke with definite fluish symptoms. I started feeling better after a while, but not enough to risk infecting anyone else.

I had to cancel my appointments and crawl into bed. Looks like I’ll be here a few days. I’ve got tons going on, but it’s all coming to a halt. If I can’t do it laying in bed or bundled on the sofa, then it just ain’t happening for a while. Judging by day one, my flu furlough is going to last a lot longer the Federal one.

Giving In To It

So what do you do in this situation? Do you just give in, binge watch something in your jammies and wait for it to pass? Or do you try to be productive at home and work on your taxes or de-clutter your junk drawer?

We Manics love our downtime, and though we can be quite industrious at times, it’s easy for us to slip into sloth.

Add to that the crappy weather, and I’m tempted to pull the covers over my head and skip the world for a few days.

The Gift Of The Furlough

Whenever you’re on furlough, whether it’s paid or not, you have a chance to do something different. You don’t have to show up at work, and no one expects much from you. Your normal responsibilities are on artificial hold.

So it can be a gift of sorts. A chance to do things during the day when you’d normally be at work. An opportunity to catch up on your reading and pet cuddling. A time to slow your motor, but just temporarily. You’ll get back to your struggle soon enough.

If it’s a true work furlough, then you’ve got a chance to ski without lift lines, go wine-tasting without the crowds, or take advantage of matinée prices and Early Bird dinner deals. The best thing is to do something, anything, that you couldn’t do when things are normal.

But since my furlough is health related, I’m going to have to hunker down in bed. I may get caught up with a few phone calls to friends, or work on some new, fresh blog content. But I’ll probably just watch the latest episode of Happy and call it a day.

Aside from that, I’m open to suggestions…