I'm on a career break and here's what's happened so far...

On the eve of my youngest starting primary school, as I lay out the 2 school bags, the 2 uniforms and 2 pairs of school shoes, I wanted to share the experience of the first 3 months of my 6 month career break.

I made the decision back in mid 2019 to take a career break and I am halfway through! #yikes. And by no means was this a straightforward decision, for several reasons. Let me share with you what was going on at that time in my life.

• Work was operating at a serious pace; we were in the thick of a business integration after a significant acquisition at the end of 2018
• My husband and I were both working full time and travelling very regularly
• I had one son in grade 1 and one son in kinder and so much going on at school for them both
• The anticipation of my youngest starting school in 2020  
• And then there’s just life, family, friends, birthdays, dramas, joy!!!

And this is life, right?!?! I know this isn’t unique to me, I’m not the first and nor will I be the last! But what I knew was that it was all getting too much for my little tribe.

I kept saying to myself “I have the rest of my life to work but I won’t have a 5 & 7 year old forever”!! So, my husband and I made the decision that I would take 6 months off and words cannot describe the gratitude I have felt for being able to do this.  

Now let me be clear, I am not sharing this to judge anyone for how you choose to do life. I am merely sharing my experience. I appreciate that everyone has different circumstances and some actions aren’t choices, I get it. But my hope in sharing this is to help other people recognize that they’re not alone. Because since sharing that I was taking a career break to focus on my family, so many people have commented on how they’ve felt or feel the same.

So this all sounds peachy (and it absolutely is, don’t get me wrong) but part of this decision was also self-reflection on what this meant for me and my career. I take such great pride in how I lead, my personal brand and the impact and contribution I make at work. And if I’m honest, I was scared about a couple of things:

1.    The love and joy I got from my work where would I get there???

2.    What will a 6 month career break do to my career???

I’m self-aware enough to know that this is just the fear of the unknown talking and after giving myself a number of pep talks I came to the conclusion that the love and joy I would experience would be so different and isn’t that amazing?!?!?!  Secondly, if an employer (in fact anyone) judges my career break as a bad thing then frankly we’re not values aligned and I’m totally ok with that.

As the commencement of my break approached, I was filled with SO MANY different emotions: anticipation, sadness, excitement, immense gratitude, the list goes on. And at the 3 month mark I can tell you, without a doubt, other than marrying the love of my life and having my amazing children, it is the best thing I have ever done, for me, for my husband, for my kids, for my team.

• Our life has slowed down which was so needed, it’s allowed us to all calm down and quite literally smell the roses.
• I have realised that the most precious thing I have is not time but my attention.
• I have truly connected with my kids and almost got to know them again, and far out they’re funny!!!
• I have treasured the beautiful time with my youngest before he starts his schooling life.
• I have been able to play the role of taking care of my family and not feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel at the end of every night #thisisreal
• My team have all stepped up and taken on more responsibility and are killing it! I couldn't be prouder of them all.
• I have become clear on what I need to ensure I can do life in way that aligns with my heart and head which I also know isn’t going to be perfect and that's ok.

So, as I move into the last 3 months of my career break, with both the kids starting school and lots more ME TIME (what’s that???!!) I am full of excitement of what lies ahead.