What everyone should know about a Sabbatical (Part-2)

The other 5 huge lessons I have learnt

Welcome back.

So, it looks like you’re still serious about the sabbatical option or your laptop has frozen. If you haven’t read the first piece, please read it here. For the others, this essay jumps the fence from the Simpsons to the Flanders where the grass is always perfectly cut and completely free from dog and human feces.

Again, you’re contemplating taking a sabbatical and have some ideas in your head. Let’s take a good look at the ones that will make your hiatus an experience at par with floating in crystalline blue water of the South Pacific, fanned by supermodels, while Bezos stands by insisting that you take some of his money.

Good idea #1 : I’m going to complete a pending personal project during my sabbatical

Like I said in the first piece, a sabbatical is a joyous and passionate marriage between Working and Relaxing. In fact, think of it as an open marriage with Learning also joining in frequently and enthusiastically. I’ll let you decide the gender roles — don’t want to presume your preferences, you happy perverts.

The most successful breaks I have known were the ones where the person had a specific project or idea to work on. No human soul can’t resist the brilliant mix of being able to work productively on something they love, with the freedom to choose your timings and your pace, while also leaving a little room for your other hobbies too. In an earlier age, you would have been tossed from the castle walls for suggesting such an indulgence. Nowadays luckily, firms just need you to sign a standard legal indemnification while braving the jealous glances from HR.

Good idea #2 : I’m going to attempt to improve my lifestyle during my sabbatical

Working in a typical nine-to-five slave-ship these days barely leaves us with enough time for even bathroom breaks, let alone adding a new habit like a 5 am start or an evening run. Maybe smaller habits like eating a salad thrice a week can be fitted in, but they stand at risk of being demolished on one of your “bad days”. We all have those days, where the work stress becomes unbearable and then flashes a food ad on the screen. The next thing you know, no chocolate cake within a one-mile radius is safe from you.

A sabbatical gives you a chance to try, and even better, keep experimenting with new habits to find the right fit for them in your life. Think of it this way, it’s a lot easier to try waking up at 5 am every day without the fear that your post-lunch concalls, sadistically timed no doubt, will feature you sleeping at your desk, snoring and drooling in high-definition.

Good idea #3 : I’m going to ensure a bank of friends before I start my sabbatical

There’s a good chance I’m more introverted than you. Seriously, I have been known to cross the street, duck into an alley and run into humping cats, just to avoid saying hello to someone. But even I can confirm that the hardest part of the sabbatical has been the loneliness and the lack of a sense of community.

Like with any effort, you will have your good days and your bad days, and you need to ensure that you’ve roped in close friends who you can speak to when your day ends badly. Such days are usually and easily dissipated with workplace chats, but when you're on your own they will tend to keep bubbling within you like a bad case of gas. Your family living with you, as much as they love you — or so you hope — will, after a point, want some space. Therefore, you need to speak and chat up with your closest friends and keep them on speed-dial to help you stay sane when you’re just dying to discuss the latest setback at work or simply how much you loved the Game of Thrones finale.

Good idea #4 : I’m going to boost my finances with cash, for my sabbatical

Wow, how did you get so smart! Were you born this way, or did you study for it? Forget the self-important financial pundits on TV and whatever your Dad tells you, you already understand how the modern economy works. Any asset other than cash cannot be relied on. Markets can fall, Tenants can leave, and Funds can lose value. Gold is tough to encash and so is Real-estate. In other words, the only thing you can depend on is cash. Be sure to keep aside ample reserves before you start your journey. Yes, inflation does rob the money of value but it’s a small price to pay for the incredibly important convenience of being able to actually use your own money. A reserve of cash is your personal Samurai warrior thrashing out a path for you to reach your goals.

Good idea #5 : I’m going to take a vacation first before I decide on my sabbatical

About as sensible an idea as “maybe I shouldn’t comment on his sister’s rear-end”. If you take a vacation first, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll realise that you just needed some rest, sleep and sex, and like a baby who needs food and a hug, you now feel much better. Issues that were shrivelling every hair follicle on your scalp will seem manageable, and you might even find new energy or solutions to deal with them. Or on the other hand, you’ll get clarity on what is truly bugging you. Our mind tends to be inherently short-sighted and needs a special lens to see the larger picture and not obsess over the details. A vacation is viewing your problems from a thousand feet. From there, you can truly appreciate which objects are small, which are not small, and how beautiful the sunrise actually looks.

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A sabbatical is not a paid vacation. It is an unpaid break from your career path. Therefore, you should exercise that option only if your objectives are worth it in the long run. I for one, would never encourage anyone to sacrifice their happiness at the altar of corporate gods. I would also never encourage anyone to jump off a cliff just because it looks like a cool thing to do.

In any case, the answers have to start with you. You need to ask them and then have the courage to seek the answers. Too often, people stop at the point of worrying about the problems. I’m not sure if they expect someone else to solve it for them (if so, how old are they, and are they related to Aunt Becky?!) or are they simply afraid to face the answers (really?! Is it too much pain to deal with the answers even privately and on your own terms?).

I sincerely hope you’re none of the above. And more to the point, I hope your sabbatical turns out to be the life-changing, soul-rejuvenating, mind-recharging, body-refurbishing experience that it can actually be.

Cheers to that!!

Always stay cool, and keep building a better life!!