7 Lessons I Learned on Sabbatical

We smartly implemented a sabbatical policy at my marketing communications agency a few years ago, enabling anyone to take a paid month's leave after six years of service. After twelve years of service, I decided it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about.

I’ve worked continuously since I was a teenager, so the idea of not working at all seemed foreign and left me unnerved. Yet, I also found myself at one of life's crossroads and needed the time and distance to ask myself some big and challenging questions. More importantly, I needed to formulate answers.

My intent is to simply share some observations rather than to bore you with the details of how I spent last summer. However, for context, I spent a month in Europe's cafes, taverns, museums, and art galleries. I visited old friends and made some new ones, encountered strangers, and sometimes felt like a stranger myself. Traversing the continent, I made the plazas, rivers, lakes, and mountains my muses. I read, wrote, and reflected. I kept a journal.

Recently, I went back and read what I wrote. A few things leaped out amongst the travel facts recorded, the crude sketches of cathedrals and waterways, the misguided attempts at song lyrics, and the occasional intoxicated ramblings of a madman. These were specific reactions to experiences, places, and people I encountered or thought about in my travels. These contemporaneous observations may not be original or revolutionary, but I found them meaningful.

1. New experiences create new stories. If you don’t listen to the voice of wanderlust, you will no longer be able to hear it someday.
2. Learn from the lessons of history but focus on the people. Look beyond the significant events and pay closer attention to individuals' poor and wise choices. Understand how they overcame or succumbed to challenges (usually far more dire than ours) and apply those lessons to our lives.
3. Admire the intense beauty of everyday life. Most importantly, pay attention to the small moments. A wet cobblestone street can hold as much beauty as an art gallery full of masterpieces.
4. You can find intolerance anywhere. Even in the most beautiful places, don’t be surprised to find someone filled with ignorance and hate. The only antidote is love (and a sharp tongue).
5. Our egos will consume the world if we let them. Empathy and personal growth can keep our ego in check.
6. Solve one problem at a time. It can become overwhelming when we are beset on all sides with difficulties. If we prioritize these challenges and focus on addressing only one at a time, we’ll find better solutions and calm ourselves. At the same time, the passive mind continues to seek and present answers subconsciously to the other problems.
7. Know oneself and let go of attachments. We can better be present in our time and place and give those we love the space to do the same, by letting go.

I’m not a life coach or philosopher. I don’t know if these are insightful observations or just senseless blather fueled by an overindulgence of Italian wine or Dutch cheese. But I am a traveler walking this road that we all must travel and trying to learn along the journey until it's our turn.