2. How to prepare for a Sabbatical

Returning to the work by William Bridges and his book, “Transitions,” Bridges outlines how transitions have three common stages: 1) an ending, 2) a neutral zone, and 3) a new beginning. In the context of a Sabbatical, your preparation stage is the ending, while the sabbatical itself is the neutral zone and the end of your sabbatical is the new beginning. So, make no mistake, when you take a sabbatical, you are ending something and then entering a neutral zone, so it’s important to prepare yourself accordingly. It’s not as simple as it might sound.

As referenced in the previous article, these are the same stages as a rite of passage. In a training I took on Designing & Leading Change at The Grove Consultants International, Gisela Wendling, one of the instructors who conducted research on rites of passage and has expertise in liminal change, shared how such times require both external support and internal work. Meaning, one needs to set up outer structures to support yourself during the time of change, and one needs to do inner, personal work to prepare, get through, and make it out the other side of transitions. There are some more objective and rational activities you should do to prepare, and there are some more personal, emotional activities to take on to make your sabbatical enjoyable and successful, if you will.

Again, this is something I wish I had known before taking my sabbatical. I was long overdue to take it, but I don’t think that I prepared myself emotionally as much as I could and should have. Like many others, I focused on the practical details rather than think about how I needed to prepare myself mentally and emotionally.

So, I offer you 4 concepts around which to prepare yourself for your Sabbatical and make your ending as smooth as possible.

1. Prepare internally and emotionally.

Trust me and others who have taken sabbaticals—unless you do this internal work ahead of time, you won’t fully realize until you’re away that while a sabbatical is wonderful it can also be hard. Your world changes, which can have an impact on your psyche or psychological state. So, again, before you head off, acknowledge that you are at an ending, the first step in your transition.

Here are a few tips:

  • Consider what you need to do to say good-bye to your current life and what you will leave behind. For some, this may not be so dramatic. It may be as simple as saying good-bye to your first job, thanking it for teaching you what you needed, and being grateful to have a break before you start grad school in the fall. For others, it might be saying good-bye to a title or identity for a period of time or to the comfort of your home as you embark on travels.

  • Depending on what you are stepping away from, this ending and saying those good-byes can impact people differently. Don’t be surprised if you start to experience stages of grief. If this becomes the case, look for resources to help you through it.

  • How do you want to think about your identity while on sabbatical? You are likely no longer going to be engaged in work. An obvious statement perhaps, but you lose all that comes with a job—a title, colleagues and community, someplace to go for the day, structure. Your daily life will change, as will your identity if you’ve associated yourself with work for some time. Stepping off the traditional career track can throw you for a loop. So, how do you want to think about your identity during this time? I’ll admit that I didn’t do the work here, and so my lack of identity or my fretting about my future identity ate at me while away. Looking back, that was wasted energy. How can you think about your identity during this time to avoid needless worry, and then you can pick it up when you re-enter normal life.

  • Think about your mindset and consider what frame of mind you need and want to be in for your sabbatical. For example, I realized that I needed to put down my “achievement” motivator and allow myself to do less and be less productive. I also committed to not being overly planful and allowing myself to explore more. When I found myself taking on too much, I came up with ways to delegate tasks or eliminate to do’s. I also created mantras for myself, words I wanted to live by during my sabbatical time. The mantras served as wonderful daily reminders to direct where I put my attention.

  • Be prepared for ups and downs. Of course, taking time off is glorious, but you still have your issues or whatever you might be dealing with at the moment. My sabbatical experience was not all joy and bliss. I had my down days. Personally, I accept that life has its ups and downs and don’t believe we’re supposed to be in a happy state all of the time. Nevertheless, know that negative moods or emotions won’t be eliminated, so have some resilience tools in your toolbox to help get you shifted at moments of gloom.

  • One of those resilience tools is to learn to quiet your mind. For example, please try to not fret about what will take place in the future when you re-enter and how things will come together. I did this while traveling in so many glorious places, like overlooking Lake Como in Italy. I have thought back to some of those days and realize that my fretting was not going to help me resolve the problem in the moment. I distracted myself from being able to take in that experience for all its glory. I wish I had accepted that the future will come. And I could deal with it when it was the present moment.

  • Understand what you hope to get from the time away but hold that loosely unless you really have true projects you want to pursue. Also consider if there is internal work you want to prioritize rather than outward facing actions and accomplishments.

2. Prepare externally. During times of transition, it is helpful to have both a group of people who are your cheerleaders and will support you during this time, and it can also be helpful to put yourself amongst others who are taking or who have taken a sabbatical. It can be comforting to be connected to people with shared experiences and to have them as a sounding board. Take some time to consider who you might need to support you and keep you committed and inspired.

Preparing externally also includes all the outer world connections you may need to address. Of course, this includes exiting your job and thinking about how you’ll tell the story of your exit. How will you spin this in a positive way? Will you be honest and share it as a badge of honor? Or, will you hide it or skirt the issue?

This can also include sharing with family and friends. Don’t be surprised if you get mixed reactions. Again, sabbaticals aren’t normal. Some will be supportive and be a part of your cheerleading squad. Some may get nervous for you. So, think about how you will protect yourself from naysayers once you are committed.

3. Prepare financially. We’d be irresponsible if we didn’t tell you to prepare your finances before taking time off or saving to give you runway for your time without an income and to pay for travel or other expenses. Even if you are taking just an extra week off as unpaid leave, make sure you’ve done your budget and will not put yourself or your family in financial trouble by taking a break. We advocate and celebrate these breaks, but not if it’s going to put you in financial trouble and cause added stress.

Now, depending on where you’re at in your career and your obligations, your risk may be lower or higher in stepping away for a time. That will factor in, as well. So, before taking a break, make sure you can afford it. Set a budget for your sabbatical time. And, get creative on how you’ll pull it off. For example, when we traveled in Europe for 2 ½ months our summer away, we paid for lodging only 2 weeks of that time. Between home exchanges, staying with friends, and having friends generously offer vacation places to stay, we didn’t spend more than if we had stayed at home by having 2 months of free lodging.

4. Prepare for the time away. First, frame the time and duration and have a sense of how you’d like to use the time you’ll have. I’m a planner, so I loosely laid out how I was going to use the months between travel and projects at home. Yet, I’ll admit that while I thought I wanted to get certain things done during my time off, I was not “accomplishing” as much as I thought I would. Luckily, I realized that early on and shifted my mindset as I noted above. I put down the need to accomplish, realizing that was the point of this time! I was exhausted from all the “doing” and accomplishment that used to give me endorphin hits. No longer; I wanted to just “be.” Not do. And, I wanted my “to do’s” to not be overly productive as it related to work. Instead, I planned vacations and time away (don’t underestimate how much time this can take!). I got trained in our Neighborhood Emergency Response Team. I painted our bathroom. I cooked dinners. I gardened. I exercised. I walked in Golden Gate Park. I spent time with friends. I went to lectures. I did what some might think are mundane activities, yet to me that was partly the point. The time was not meant for me to start a new business or write a book. I had already spent time exploring those paths over the years. This was time to truly pause.

Some may be more comfortable with having a more open schedule with little planning, allowing serendipity to play its role. But just be prepared that you might feel uncomfortable not having a schedule or having no goals or having nothing set in the future to look forward to. You might be cool with it. But, consider having a game plan of what you might do if you start to have some angst.

With that, I now encourage you to take the leap!

Embrace what you are ending and enter the neutral zone, your sabbatical. Many of us fear taking this step. Yet, everyone seems to be jealous when you tell them you were lucky and took a sabbatical. We all can find excuses or reasons not to plan for one. But if you are lucky enough do it, I advise make others jealous!

Kathy Oneto