OK, gon a try and keep it short.
I've been absent from work a bunch lately and it's because I've been sick a lot. I'm a swim instructor at a (granted, severely overstaffed. We have a shit ton of people and boss just keeps hiring more n more) swim school.
I work 4 days a week. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
August 9th, a Wednesday, I got my wisdom teeth out so I didn't come back until the 15th just to take time to heal up so I wouldn't be walking into work swollen and bleeding.
Then about two weeks ago, I took another week off from work because I caught whatever virus is going around right now from one of the kids. Worked 2 weeks just fine afterwards.
This Wednesday I was told I could stay home cause we had too many people on staff. Sweet. Thursday and Friday, we were closed because of pool maintenance. My Saturday shifts start at 7:30am.
That brings me to today. My Saturday shift. I slept all of 20 minutes last night due to a bout of insomnia and texted my boss letting her know I couldn't safely work today (since I have to be hypervigilent at work to make sure no kids are drowning n no sleep would definitely make me less likely to notice). I lied and said my type one diabetes is giving me trouble since “I couldn't sleep :(” doesn't feel like a good justification for not showing up.
To sum up this story, I feel guilty for needing so many breaks. I feel like a lazy slob and a bad employee. I have several autoimmune disorders and I get sick soooo fuckin easily, dude. It's a juggling act trying to keep my body from killing itself.
So basically, does anyone have any advice on how to not feel guilty over this? Or can anyone slap a shit ton of cold hard truth into my face if I am just melodramatic? Any words are appreciated.
TLDR: Called out of work a shit ton recently due to wisdom teeth removal, the flu, and an extreme bout of insomnia. Looking for advice on how to not feel guilty over being unwell or a slap in the face of truth if I'm just being overdramatic.