3 Common Sabbatical Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

I’m in an unusual season of life right now. For the past nearly four years I’ve been working full-time at a job I absolutely loved. But when our family moved across the country for my husband’s work, I tried remaining in the beloved role by working remote though it wasn’t a good fit. So I left the job and now I’m on sabbatical. I don’t know when or if I’ll return to full-time work. I’d say I’m unemployed, except I have a few good options on my plate I could do if I want to earn an income. But I’ve made the conscious choice to hold off on returning to work just yet in an effort to rest, process the past few years that have flown by, and to recalibrate my focus for the next few years ahead.

I should be an expert on sabbaticals by now. I mean, our family once sold nearly all we owned and moved overseas. We didn’t have work visas when we lived in England and Poland for those 2.5 years, so it meant we were for all practical purposes on a sabbatical from our professional lives. What’s more, my husband Chris is CEO of a phenomenal company and has every employee take a sabbatical the year they hit their 5 year anniversary with the dynamic team. He took his sabbatical in the summer of 2015, so I had a front row seat again for what intentional time off should look like.

But I still stink a bit at sabbaticals.

Tomorrow marks six weeks I’ve not been working a full-time job, and I’ve come to realize there are three errors I keep tripping up on as I go. My purpose here is to identify them, share how I’m tackling them, and hopefully give you wisdom as you prepare for (or at least dream of) taking your own sabbatical someday.

Mistake #1: Turning A Hobby Into Work

You know what? I enjoy blogging. I’ve been blogging off and on for the better part of 10 years. It’s a healthy way to process what I’m experiencing in life, and it’s been the key source that helped us raise about $150,000 for various causes that are near and dear to our family over the past decade.

While there’s nothing wrong at all with turning a hobby into work, I’m finding I have to keep a tight rein on blogging during this season because everywhere I turn I’m challenged to start making money personally off of my blog. There’s always the chance that day will come, but for now I’m not honoring the time off if I’m already moving ahead before the mental rest has done its work.

Mistake #2: Letting Email and Social Media Remain Your Master

I understand that when we’re employed it’s not unusual for us to be hyper-vigilant about promoting everything on the company blog or social media accounts. We might be active in Twitter groups or Facebook communities related to work daily. But if you’re not good about taking social breaks on weekends and evenings as it is, a sabbatical might be the only time you give yourself permission to truly unplug. You owe it to yourself. If not now, when?

I love the advice that Michael Hyatt says to ask yourself when facing life change: “What does this opportunity afford us?”. For my family, the time I have not working during this season affords us the opportunity to travel more. We’ve opted to drive across a few US states on the East Coast this Summer to connect face to face with some remote Formstack teammates and their families. I simply cannot wait to explore these cities as a family and meet teammates for coffee or meals. I don’t believe I could fully engage in this opportunity if I were tethered to my laptop and phone for social media or email. Simply put, email and social media can wait. I’ve got memories to make, folks! (And so do you.)

Mistake #3: Avoiding The Empty Calendar

For a long time now, I’ve had a daily routine of Bible reading in the morning, followed by going to my calendar on my phone to look at scheduled meetings and pray in preparation for them. Imagine how messed up my habit became when, after a few weeks on sabbatical, I’d open my calendar to routinely see a blank day ahead.

No doubt, some of you are thinking right now that an empty day sounds like paradise! And to be sure, I can’t complain. But it’s easy to tie our personal value to our to-do list. When our to-do list is minimal our self-esteem can be minimized. Don’t let this happen to you. Turn it around by making a list today — before you ever even schedule a sabbatical — and write out what you absolutely love to do.

Need a tangible example? A few things I love to do are working on our lawn and flower beds, writing about productivity and simplifying life, and trying out new recipes. Let me conclude by showing you next how combining what I love to do with my gifts is adding significance to this season of life for me.

Conclusion:

Now that I’m 6 weeks into the sabbatical experience, I am celebrating tiny wins. I want to share these wins with you so you can identify ways to partner your hobbies with passions and curiosities to make the most of your time off.

• I’ve combined my love for making processes more efficient with my love for gardening and put together a new sprinkler system setup for our lawn.
• I’ve drafted about 60 blog posts on minimalism, how our family travels and budgets and prioritizes, and more. If I want to write, I write. I don’t schedule it, but when it flows I simply capture the thoughts. (I’m posting them slowly, however, and will only do minimal social sharing the next few months so as not to suck the life out of the creativity side and push it over to the “I have to do this” realm.)
• I’ve tried out many new recipes and updated to a new rotating menu plan of healthy meals for our family including a more efficient grocery process. Now we order groceries for delivery bi-weekly and have a supplemental shopping list to use at the local market on alternating weeks.
• Guess what? Pinterest doesn’t just exist for us to pin things that we wish we could do. I’m actually trying many of the pins I’ve pinned on Pinterest all these years and am having a blast!

Finding ways to keep busy during a sabbatical is never the goal. Prioritize empty days by limiting (or completely ignoring) email and social media and by getting lost doing things that replenish your energy and multiply your joy.

I’m far from winning at this whole sabbatical thing, but I’m making strides by coaching myself each day with 5 helpful questions:

1. “What am I learning about myself?”
2. “Am I resting or striving today?”
3. “Am I trying to make myself seem successful when I’m supposed to be resting?
4. “Who can I serve today?”
5. “Is there anything I’d regret not having tried or done when this sabbatical is over that I could do today?”

If you were on sabbatical today, what would you do to rest and recalibrate?