It was a Tuesday morning. At first I did what everyone does in that scenario; I freaked out.
What about this month's bills? Crap, I need to find a job immediately. Wait, now what do I do tomorrow?While finances are legitimate concerns if unprepared for time off (geez, what an embarrassing and ridiculous question that last one is), the following paragraphs are an exhortation to take a break like I am wrapping up.
That Wednesday morning I went to the top of Sugarloaf to think about how to solve my problem. [Boulder pro tip: Flagstaff, Sugarloaf, and the rest of the high points around here have proven to be great providers of solace and respite time and time again for me, should you find yourself in need.] I drove up to find the Switzerland Trail parking lot empty except for a Buddhist monk so transfixed by a mantra that I don't think he even knew I was there. I hiked to the summit and sat there alone for an hour. An hour, by the way, can feel like a very very long time to sit in silence, but I recommend it from time to time.
Sometimes an hour is the difference between overburdened by worry and excited for endless possibilities.
I watched a raven cruise the thermals while taking in the morning sun and processing my thoughts. A voice in my head told me sternly not to panic and that I would be fine. I remembered the saying, Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. Eventually I realized that what I had was not a problem at all. This was an opportunity. Once I changed my attitude about the situation, my entire perspective changed. I started to wonder what I could do rather than what I needed to do. New passport stamp? Is Yosemite nice this early in the year? New trails to run? Skiing Alaska? These are much better questions than, "Will I be able to max out my Roth IRA this year?" or "How will this gap look on my resumé if it goes on for a while?" A friend texted me a few thoughts which I now completely agree with, summarized:
This might be the best thing to ever happen... Sometimes we're scared to follow our hearts until we are forced to. Take time and listen to what your heart is telling you that you want to do in life.To a large degree, the difference between laid off and funemployment is the right attitude and good decision making. Thankfully my attitude was corrected early, which led to vastly improved decisions later. [For example, this week's decisions included a lovely spring day at Copper riding the coral > corn > slush wave (with a little pow thrown in for good measure!) then emptying a Twisted Pine growler with good friends. Next week I'll be visiting family. I'm going to miss mid-week skiing, mid-day leisure reading, and spontaneous trips when I'm back among the land of the working... but it's been a wonderful break. I'm rested, excited for the next chapter of my career, and grateful for the break.]
Down from Sugarloaf, I made a list of things that I couldn't do on typical Thursdays and starting to work through the list. I looked into an avalanche class that I had been wanting to take for years and found it was being offered soon so I signed up. I geeked out hardcore on snow science and loved it. I finally cracked a book I had been wanting to read for a while. I began a website I've been thinking about starting for a while. [It's not done yet... hopefully more on that later.] I spent time reading in the library to learn some new things in the software world. I skied Steamboat on a Monday. I finally scheduled that BPO to get the PMI removed from my mortgage. I talked to my grandparents on the phone in the middle of the day. I booked a flight on 48 hours notice to visit family in Texas. In short, I took a break. I stopped to catch my breath rather than trying desperately to jump right back into the rat race. That's not to say I didn't job hunt, but it just didn't occupy me to an unhealthy degree or prevent me from enjoying the opportunity. If there was snow in the forecast, I scheduled interviews around it and made sure I skied when it was fresh.
With a month of hindsight to draw from,
I am now a huge advocate for taking longer breaks in your career
, in whatever capacity you're capable of. I welcome another break like this in the future - hopefully not soon per se, but when the time is right. Frankly, I almost regret not doing this a long time ago. And so we're clear, a week or 10 days around Christmas / New Years does not count as a break in this context. That's a nice time to catch up with family and laundry, but not a real break. This one will be 5 weeks for me once complete, and I feel like I just hit the tip of the iceberg this time. Prior to this month, I had been fully employed since graduating college. That's not something I take lightly, and I'm grateful for it, but even when switching jobs I would typically make Friday my last day then start the following Monday at my new gig. I now realize not taking advantage of those tiny break opportunities is nuts.
Are you unhappy at your job or just tired? Do you have a lot of great ideas but not enough time to realize them? Drop out and pursue your folly - responsibly, of course, but you'll be fine. Take a month, visualize your ideal path if you don't see it already, and then go for it. I would go so far as to say that even if you are happy with your job and even if you don't feel tired, you should take a break every now and then anyway. People are so bound by habit and societal norms that I feel they don't question their daily routine and how that compares to their goals often enough (if at all).
Seriously, do it. Don't be afraid. Tear a big ol' chunk of time off your calendar to clear your head or rediscover a passion or reveal your calling or just catch your breath. Take long enough to do all the junk at the bottom of your weekend to-do list that never gets done. Or take long enough to forget what day it is. Or take a road trip with zero days notice. Or read that book that's been gathering dust for months. Do all the things you can't do on a typical employed Thursday morning. Catch up on sleep like Jenny did when she crashed at Forrest's house. Get lost in the woods. Use the "3 day window" search option when booking a flight and don't consider whether you have enough PTO. Take enough time such that you start to ask yourself if perhaps you've taken too long (...then answer yourself with a no and take at least another week before asking such a silly question again).
Enough time to arrive at forks in the road and decide which direction to go based on your heart rather than limiting factors such as the clock or the calendar or the bills.
Forgive the new-agey language, but seriously, take the time to draw out your authentic and inherent interests. If this sounds lazy to you, sorry, but I just don't want to get to the end of the road and realize I can't recall what roses smell like.
Some people reading are thinking that they'll never be able to take a break from work because they can't afford it; the solution is to unburden yourself with stuff. (I live in an 800 sq ft condo partially to force myself to limit possessions.) Don't buy things you don't need. Hold fast to the difference between want and need. You can string money out a lot longer if you're not still paying off that shopping spree. If a newer car is what's holding you back from going on that summer-long hike you've always wanted to take and you know you'll regret not taking, don't trade in your old car. Maybe this is getting off topic, and I don't want to ramble about how stuff isn't that important, but I would rather be buried under a humbler gravestone with a trove of memories from surfing that entire summer in Baja than wake up one morning near the end of the line wearing Ebenezer Scrooge's shoes sans recollection of the smell of roses. Nobody ever gets to the end of their career and regrets too few hours at the day job... I hope.
I know I'm a total weirdo for pondering utopian states more than the average person, but I tend to have a lot of thoughts about how ridiculous some societal norms are. For some reason, I am afflicted with an excessive amount of opinions on what is and what should be. Sometimes I picture myself with a bullhorn ranting to a crowd about how all the fish are swimming in the wrong direction. You're doing it wrong! Usually my more logical self files most of those thoughts under the "America / mankind will get there eventually, but sadly not any time soon" bucket and my idealogical self sighs then moves on. [There are a lot of voices in my head. What... you don't have these? Liar.] I think this topic deserves more immediate attention though.
I strongly feel it should be easier to take longer breaks in your career without having to explain them as if they were a problem on a resumé.
It's sad that we frown upon such gaps as a collective working world. I've been part of hiring decisions and interviews in the past where candidates were questioned about resumé gaps or weren't given a chance because of gaps. I understand that companies need to protect themselves from hiring somebody that might leave them in a very short time, because hiring and training is expensive, but course-correcting should not force people into the defensive during an interview. That's the core tenet of the agile software process; failing fast and course correcting often. If you find out that the job you just took wasn't what you thought it would be, it shouldn't be a bad thing to find the right job. Or take a 3 month break to clear your head, recharge batteries, travel, learn something new, or verify that the road you're on is the right one. [Robert Plant once told me that there's always time to change the road you're on.] It should also be easier to sample other professional interests, but that's probably another topic. I fear this is starting to get long-winded so I'll stop. I'm just saying, we all need to take time off, and it shouldn't be a bad thing to do so.
^ The company I worked for was acquired, and new ownership cut staff by 1/3... you know, to cut costs and offshore work, and all that good stuff. I can't really say I'm angry though, because although I miss my old team, in hindsight it seems to have worked out better than I could ever have planned.
