Ha. People are evidently not self employed. My horse died on the gallops with me. Next day, back to work, even though I needed anti depressants to get me through 6 months of intense grief. People need to toughen up
I've been self-employed, though not in a physical job. I took very little time off BUT that was because I didn't need it at the time, not because I was ill and battled through. I also found that because I was able to stick to my natural body clock, I was healthier. I didn't get up in the dark in winter although I would work on into the evening. If I felt a bit ill, I'd sleep it off but I would still be putting in full-time hours over the course of a month.
Now I'm in a job I enjoy, I have very little time off sick because I'm not stressed and ill. It was different when I worked for an incredibly nepotistic and badly-managed company.
And IME, if I take that time off earlier, I help to avoid that 6 months of being on antidepressants. I would politely suggest, Nags that perhaps going straight back to work and being tough was not actually the best thing for you in the long run.
People have spoken on here about the unprofessionalism of taking time off. However, to my way of thinking, a professionally-run organisation builds in time for staff to be away whether that's for sickness, grief, childcare or whatever it is they need to do to have a good work-life balance. If you treat people with respect, instead of assuming they're work shy and will skive at the first opportunity, they tend to respond by working harder. And if you are professional, you'll organise your time and work patterns so that actually if you get hit by the proverbial bus, things will carry on. Or indeed if you just need a day off to cry, nothing will go hideously wrong because you're organised and build some slack into the system.