When is the right time to take a career break?

A lot of people have been asking me this lately. I understand how difficult it is to take the plunge and here are some pointers that have helped me.?

(1) What are your priorities today ??

As unique as you are, your needs are also unique and they change at every stage of life. If spending time with an ailing parent or a toddler is important at this stage in your life, then that cannot wait another 10 years.?

I wrote down all my needs and then stack ranked it to truly identify and align to my most important ones.

(2) What is holding you back ??

Alongside my needs, I listed all the fears that stop me - Will I get bored? Will I be able to get back later? How will I explain it to everyone? Etc etc.?

Once you actually list fears and start thinking of ways to beat it, these fears stop being so daunting.?

I also started talking to people about the break early on and discovered new ways to deal with these fears. And when I spoke about my fears out loud, they somehow became smaller.?

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(3) Feel ready to PAUSE?

Do you believe that you deserve a life that’s enjoyable everyday??

Or is it ok to continue living with guilt, boredom or stress & tension??

While my work was never dull, I felt constantly guilty for not spending time with my parents. A break is the best way to shed those old negative thoughts and make it upto yourself.?

Like sleep is important to rejuvenate, career breaks can be a great way to re-invent yourself and re-start stronger than before.?

(4) Calculate your finances & runway time-?Its very easy to psych yourself out about money. Knowing you have savings that will pay rent and EMIs is reassuring to calculate your break time. I keep a buffer of an extra year and something for medical emergencies. But this exercise also helped me re-calibrate and realise how I am spending only a fraction of my income and it’s possible to reduce expenses even further.?

Frugal living has been an awesome re-energiser for me personally.?

Hope you discover beauty everyday like I have!?

Please feel free to reach across if you want to learn more about my career break journey or need some support to take the plunge.?