Should You Take A Career Sabbatical?

A career sabbatical is a privilege not everyone has access to. Is it the right time for you to take one? Read on for my sabbatical story and 5 questions to ask if you’re considering one yourself.

2018 was a year of massive change and personal growth for me. I went from Cleveland, Ohio to Japan/Vietnam/Cambodia/India/France, from equal opportunity eating to (temporary) vegetarianism, from suits to sundresses, from a white picket fence in the ‘burbs to yoga shalas and alt lifestyle adventures, from PhD skepticism to Sanskrit chanting and reiki, from a hard working, analytically minded management consultant to a romantic, colorful and carefree Francophile.

I took a 7 month international travel sabbatical because after years of toiling on a path that didn’t feel authentic, I was burned out.

Sabbaticals give us a unique opportunity to take in the big picture and get clearer perspective on ourselves and what we want. In everyday life it’s easy to distract ourselves from the larger, thornier questions and our identities can become so conflated with our careers and relationships that we disconnect from ourselves and have a sense of merely surviving or going through the motions. As a result, we don’t feel fully fulfilled or alive.

In other cases, sabbaticals are an opportunity to build new skills, projects, and relationships. Usually people do them for a combination of reasons.

Sabbaticals aren’t the only way to realign and reinvent, of course, but they have the advantage and the attraction of giving us time and space to venture out of familiar territory. Particularly for travel sabbaticals, new possibilities and ways of being become more obviously accessible. The novelty stimulates our creativity — even and maybe especially for those who think they aren’t creative.

Below the surface of my Instagrammable adventures, my explorations excavated long buried parts of myself and illuminated parts I wasn’t aware of. It was an incredibly eye opening experience, but in retrospect I wish I had more support starting out.

If you’re considering taking a career sabbatical like I did, here are 5 questions I recommend you ask yourself:

1. What will it do for me? What can I accomplish or experience during a sabbatical that I couldn’t otherwise? (ask curiously, versus challenging your instincts… it may be difficult to even verbalize at first)
2. How big of a career and/or lifestyle change would I want, if I were being honest? Or, is the change I’m seeking purely an internal experience? (usually, it’s both)
3. What am I running to? Is this exploration and self-strengthening or escapism? (if you’re running your problems will come with you, seeking resolution)
4. What support do I have right now: Social, emotional, health, financial? What runway do I have to support myself and if applicable, my family?
5. Will I have more regrets if I do this and it doesn’t turn out the way I expected, or if I don’t and I never know?

Of course, talking to yourself or even the most well-intended friends comes with a whole lot of invisible bias. If a sabbatical’s on your horizon, I recommend that you get what I missed: Someone objective like a coach to help you make an informed decision and support a powerful and often healing journey to a new version or approach to success.

Interested in private 1:1 coaching? Schedule a connection call.

You can also check out my Clairvoyage women’s retreat for high achieving women who want to reset and redesign their life’s course.