Breaking Free From The Hustle - 6 Tips to Navigating Sabbatical Landmines
At some point the concept of a career gap became a taboo thing. When updating a LinkedIn profile or resume individuals go to great lengths to cover any extended time frames between jobs.
The truth is taking a sabbatical from your career is more common than you would expect, especially for individuals who have spent 10-15 years establishing their career. There comes a day when you’re burnt out, disengaged, and ready for a change. What if instead of trying to find something new while you have a job (let’s be honest, who actually does this unless you get recruited) you determine that financially you can afford to resign without a job and take a break between jobs to step back, get some much needed rest, reconnect with yourself, and figure out where you want to take your career from here.
Or perhaps you are in a situation like I have been 3X where you are fired and forced to take a break. Although being let go is never easy it can be an opportunity to do something like a sabbatical you never would do otherwise to learn from that experience, re-center, and figure out next steps.
Regardless of how you come to taking a sabbatical, because it is not accepted widely in our society there are 6 things to be prepared for that will try to make you second guess this amazing decision you’ve made to take important time for you.
“What do you do?”
Trigger Alert! The first time you get asked “What do you do?” will send you into a spiral. For many of us our identity is so tightly tied our job title that without it you feel lost. My recommendation is to anticipate this will happen (and it will) and decide what you want to say. Have something ready to describe the important work you are doing to re-discover yourself
“You’re being lazy”
Those first few days without work will be great. But within the first week a little panic will set in. You’ll hear a voice in your head saying “you’re lazy” “you are losing your drive” “you won’t ever work again”, and other nonsense. It’s important to deal with this inner critic trying to derail you and remind that sucker that taking time away doesn’t change who you are at your core. It’s also important to remember that this is probably the first time in 15 years you’ve ever not had a job. So taking a couple weeks to just decompress seems reasonable
Hitting delete on your experience
After a period of time as you start to consider re-entering the workforce it’s really easy to just metaphorically “hit delete on your experience”. Somehow because you’ve been out of the “grind” for a while none of your experience is relevant. I know this sounds ludicrous but it can happen...and it’s a total lie. Instead, while on your sabbatical use this time to capture all you have accomplished, expertise you have, and skills. Consider tapping your network to help with this as well.
Shame Spiral
You feel shame discussing that you are on a sabbatical. The grind or hustle is glorified. It’s easy to feel like an outsider on sabbatical because it feels like you are doing something that no one else dares to do. Let’s reframe this. Why is it such a bad thing? Doesn’t this make you light years ahead of others because you figured out a way to live without working non-stop? So you tell me who should be more ashamed 💡
“How nice you’ll get to spend more time with your family”
If you’re a mother chances are good you’ll hear this comment. Societies expectation is that the only reason you are taking time off of work is to be home with your children. How come no one asks this of men? Sabbaticals are about you. If you choose to spend more time with your kids because that’s what you want then great. But don’t do this because you think it’s what you should do since you aren’t working. This time is about you not what you think you should do.
Guilt for being able. to afford a sabbatical
You may feel guilt around your privilege that you can take time off without worrying about money. Let that shit go. You’ve worked hard to manage your money well and kudos to you for creating the financial freedom that allows you this opportunity.
The biggest takeaway is this is about YOU. You decide whether or not you take a sabbatical. You decide how to spend your sabbatical. You know what is best for you.
Keep Rising 💛
p.s. If you are needing to make a change in your life but a sabbatical is not a viable option check out the Rising Tide Retreat. It’s a great alternative to help you assess what’s most important and begin mapping out your next chapter