Why I walked away from work (for now)
Part 1 of my sabbatical journey
I did a crazy thing last month. I quit my full-time content job without having anything else lined up.
If you're a content person, there's a 50% chance you just clicked over to my LinkedIn profile to find out if you can slide into my old gig. No judgment there. Content jobs are crazy hard to find right now.
So why did I walk away? Did I inherit money? Decide to live in a shed in my sister's backyard? Become Peter from Office Space and pursue my dream of doing nothing as a full-time pursuit?
None of the above. Rather, I decided to take a sabbatical. Even as I type this, I'm chuckling at the very idea. I've either been working or hustling to get work since I graduated from college. If you're a Gen Xer in America (or even if you’re not), you can probably relate.
At first, this felt like the most selfish thing I could do. In fact, it took me weeks to finally pull the trigger and just DO it. But I think it's also one of the smartest things I've ever done.
Work takes up so much space in our lives. We structure our days around it. We build our identities around it. We prioritize our loved ones behind it. And in the U.S., it’s not only our source of income, but often, our source of health insurance.
In so many ways, our physical and mental health are directly tied to our jobs.
So if our relationship to our jobs is a primary relationship in our lives, don’t we owe it to ourselves to make sure it’s a positive one?
There's a lot to unpack around my sabbatical journey: money, career progression, passion projects, self worth, snacks. But hey folks, I've got the TIME to unpack it right now. So I'm game to go there if you feel like coming along for the ride over the next few days.
Because sometimes to figure out what to DO next, you need to stop DOING for a while.
And now, like the good Gen Xer that I am, I leave you with the immortal words of John Hughes, as channeled through Ferris Bueller:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Trish I was off a full year, mostly by an injury and physical therapy non stop, but it was eye opening. I lost friends , because I wasn’t that person anymore, i re evaluated what I took for granted , I took time for sunsets and sunrises , and most of all decided my health and mental health was worth more than money. I am changing jobs again in a few weeks after another re evaluation since going back and will be working much less hours so I slow down . I admire what you’re doing. It’s important as we journey our 50’s. Living for a job isn’t living.
Good for you. Yes, a very hard call to make, but a wise one. I'm looking for work at the moment myself, after the company I was working for went up in smoke, but I'm trying to not live in the panic and worry and instead also have a "sabbatical" mindset. Interested to hear what you learn as you allow space for Not Work to fill your mind. <3