Sabbatical recap

Well, my three-month sabbatical is over, and I’m back at work as of Monday. I was off work for 96 days. It was the longest I’ve been off work since my last parental leave in 2017 (about the same in terms of time), but for a good chunk of it the kids were in school and my wife was working full-time so, even though I was still the main stay-at-home parent, I actually had a fair bit of free time on my hands.

You might be wondering how it went right? It’s hard to imagine a paid three months off going anything other than EXTREMELY well, and, yes, I enjoyed it very much. The sabbatical is an amazing benefit of my current work situation, and I’m so grateful for it.

In terms of how I spent my time, the short answer is that I didn’t have grand plans to do a lot. I mainly wanted to do the things I already enjoy doing outside of work, but do them more. Here were some highlights.

I went to Antigua: My wife and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary with our first trip to the island and longest time away from our kids ever. It was a glorious start to the sabbatical.

I started learning the drums: This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and I took the opportunity to start lessons and practice daily. I got a drum set for my birthday! I’m loving it.

I read a lot: Some of the books I read were The Overstory, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Tokyo Vice, Great Plains, Murderbot Diaries series, and Foundation series.

I went on a lot of runs: I already run a lot, but I stepped it up and ran 150 miles in total in May and just enjoyed being able to run almost every day without time constraints.

I cooked a lot: There was always something going in the oven or stove.

I played a lot of video games: I spent quality time with my Xbox in the evenings playing Indiana Jones, Sniper Elite, Alan Wake II, Diablo IV, Doom Dark Ages, Halo MCC, and Rocket League.

I summered like it was 1989: I went to the pool, rode my bike to the store, went to the arcade, went bowling, rode waterslides, hung out with friends, and ate ice cream.

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I was also surprised about what I didn’t do.

I rarely blogged or did anything on a computer: Aside from getting admin stuff done, I didn’t feel too inspired to work or create anything digitally.

I didn’t draw or write much: Reading kind of took up any time I had when stationary and I didn’t feel the urge to pick up the pen or pencil.

I wasn’t always relaxed: The usual stresses of being a parent and caring human in the modern world were omnipresent, and the extra downtime made me extra anxious at times. Like shouldn’t I be doing more “professional development” (to provide for my family) or “giving back” (to better the world)?

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I guess now, looking back, I spent my sabbatical taking things in and didn’t feel a strong urge to make stuff and/or be especially productive, and I feel quite ready to do that now. There were definitely times I felt guilt, doubt, and fear that I wasn’t “doing sabbatical very well” and that this was the latest example of me becoming an obsolete failure of a human, but those times were short. It’s hard to feel bad for too long when your biggest decision is to go to the pool before or after a nap.

I’m feeling very well rested now and even looking forward to going back to work and my old routine. I think that means the sabbatical was a success. Only 5 more years until my next one now.

2030 here I come!