Sabbatical from Work

A couple years ago, a director at my company took a sabbatical from work for 2 months and it changed my life. He & his wife took the time off and traveled through South America. It was around January 2022. I wasn’t aware of this benefit until he shared that the company allows you to take up to 12 weeks unpaid from work for any reason every 5 years. I immediately started planning. I was about 2.5 years into the company then but I loved the idea. It is completely unprecedented to have a benefit like that. I started a new role May 2023 and told my manager January 2024 that I was going to complete my assignment for the maximum (until May 2026) and that I was planning to take a sabbatical immediately after for the summer. It was my 30th that summer too and the timing was perfect.

Now, I’m here and it’s been surreal. Today is day 11 and I’ve been writing in my journal and posting pictures/videos online but it wasn’t felt like enough. So now I’m starting here and will try and update as I go along.