I have 40 days off.
One of the great perks of working for the company work for (Automattic) is that everyone gets a 3 month paid sabbatical for every 5 years they work at the company. I reached my 5-year anniversary last October (time flies) and my last day of work leading into my sabbatical was today. Since I am part-time (3 days a week) my sabbatical works out to having almost exactly 40 days off, starting now.
Pretty sweet.
Plenty of people have asked what I have planned, and the answer is: not much! My main plan is to try to not ruin it by over planning, stressing about whether I’m using the time in the most maximized way possible, or other sorts of self sabotage. I’ve already got my 2025 goals well at hand. My goal for now, in other words, is to do what I already enjoy doing in my spare time a little more than usual.
Many of my colleagues have had sabbaticals in the months and years prior to me, and many have shared their experiences (some have had multiple sabbaticals!). After reading through these today (I could hardly work today, really 🤣), I think I’m on the right track with my plan of no plans. Here are some of what others have shared about their time away:
I had a great time during this first sabbatical skiing, playing video games, and reading. I also caught up on a few small projects like installing dash cameras in both cars and setting up my Mac Mini as a home server.
I started learning golf during my sabbatical. I’ve always wanted to learn but never made the time for it before.
During my 3 months of sabbatical, I felt like a kid again having a long summer vacation.
If I can add just one self-helpy lesson I feel like I took away from my sabbatical, it’s to slow down, savour the moment, and bask in long transition times between things. They can be refreshingly wonderful if you let them.
In the first week of my sabbatical, I had the realisation that Getting bored without guilt is a luxury. I had planned on handling my sabbatical without any set plans (except for a few things).
Singing lessons: these sessions have been the delight of my sabbatical. I took 8 lessons, starting from no singing ability. I had the time to practise almost daily and I made good progress on controlling my voice and being on tune.
What happened next was pretty cool… I just enjoyed daily life! Did a bunch of errands I’d been putting off…caught up with lots of friends and family over food and drink, and saw a couple of movies in the theatre for the first time in ages…Did a lot of cooking
I think my main takeaway is that it’s easy to get into a routine of work <=> life admin each week and it’s really important to break that cycle and remember that you have to take some time for you, that goes beyond the obvious. Don’t just go for a quick walk like you usually do. Drive that extra distance to visit that thing you always wanted to see but felt it would be too far to drive in a day. Go away for that weekend you’ve been putting off. Just go and do it.
I enjoyed these 3 months to the max, with a ton of time spent with family and my kiddos. It’s a gift that I know most people never get a chance to enjoy, and for that I will be forever grateful.
The summer was filled with many long walks, lots of small projects, and plenty of rest.
While my sabbatical wasn’t at all what I thought it would be, it really turned out perfect. I feel refreshed and grateful. There is still a lot of places I want to travel to and maybe I’ll do that the second time around. But for this sabbatical, when the time came closer I realized what I really wanted was to spend time with the people that mean the most in the world to me.
I would have done yard work regardless, but the Sabbatical afforded me the time to just go out and putter around outside when I wanted instead of trying to fit it in. I actually ended up not going on my computer hardly at all in the past three months… didn’t realize how much I had connected my identity to my routine and this sabbatical was a good reminder to break out of the routine more frequently.
Reading all these recaps made me smile. I’m beyond lucky to have this benefit. The last time I had time like this was just after my son Sam was born in 2017, and that was one of the best summers ever. So here goes…
My wife and I are going to travel a bit, I am going to take drum lessons, I will spend hours outside doing little projects in the yard and garage, reading, playing video games, napping, drawing, running, cooking, riding my bike, and seeing what all that feels like without any additional pressures.
I think it might feel good. 😃
Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence, or a vice: it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration—it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
– Lazy, A Manifesto (from the book We Learn Nothing by Tim Kreider). Check out the free audio version of the essay
Comments welcome!