DJ DiDonna who teaches at Harvard and Annette Mason. Someone in the MEA community recently asked me how she should best approach her sabbatical so, off the cuff, in a 15-minute Zoom call, I came up with these thoughts. I like them enough that I wanted to share them with you.
First off, let’s be clear that a sabbatical isn’t the same as a vacation, although it rhymes. It means taking an extended, intentional break from your habits (and even your addictions). It’s not about eating bon-bons on the couch while watching “Friends” reruns, nor is it about filling your calendar with “to-do’s” because, deep down, you’re a Calvinist who believes “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” A sabbatical is a courageous act that may bring you face-to-face with your workaholism, your belief that your life is small, and your fear of being irrelevant and invisible. I believe it’s particularly valuable as a means of taking a break when you’re in the midst of transitions, whether that’s being between jobs, marriages, or empty nesting…or all three at once.
I took a couple of years off between ages 50-52 and found that these were the most important advantages of a sabbatical:
- Calms your nervous system. We don’t realize how we overstress our adrenals in modern life. Hanging out listening to Ricki Lee Jones in my backyard hammock while reading a book brings back such glorious memories for me today. So, it’s not just good for your health, it’s good for your memories and it can be so much fun.
- Stokes your curiosity. When we’re on the treadmill whacking endless midlife moles, we don’t have time to be curious and, yet, curiosity and an openness to new experiences are directly correlated with living a longer, healthier life. For me, that meant studying the geophysical elements of hot springs, learning about emotions (since I felt so emotionally unfluent during my late 40s), and exploring why IRL festivals were becoming so popular in the era of URLs which led me to experiencing 36 festivals in 16 countries in one year.
- Explore new career paths. The challenge for so many people who want to change their career is that they get trapped by adjacencies. A burned-out litigator believes her only option is becoming a litigation consultant. A doctor who hates medical administration believes his only option is becoming a boutique physician. When we’re working while trying to imagine how we’ll piece together an income if we leave our job cold-turkey, we limit our options due to a failure of imagination. Talented people deserve empty space as, in that emptiness, new opportunities may arise. This is why the Airbnb founders tapped me on the shoulder as they knew I was in-between things. When we go into a whole new habitat but bring our wisdom along, I call this “same seed, different soil.”
- Do something that doesn’t fit into a two-week vacation. Doing a month-long Camino de Santiago walk. Moving to San Miguel de Allende for a Spanish language immersion and an extended painting program. Volunteering in Africa. Being a ski bum for a whole winter season before your legs are too old to handle it any more. Most of the ideas in this category include some travel or relocation. Ask yourself, “Ten years from now, what will you regret if you don’t learn it or do it now?”
Okay, yes, taking a sabbatical requires a certain privilege. I’ll admit that. It’s part of the reason why I’ve been suggesting to American legislators that they might look at a way for people to finance a gap year at age 50 (as a new rite of passage), just like they finance in a tax-advantaged way their kids’ college tuition.
For those of you looking for some sabbatical inspiration, head to MEA’s Summer Immersion Series in Baja where your cost, all-in, for a month-long experience of beachfront luxury accommodations, 3-meals a day, a variety of education alternatives, and a wonderful community might cost you as little as $3,500 per person double occupancy for 4 weeks plus tax and service fee (when you book two weeks, you get weeks for free). Single occupancy would be $4,550 for 4 weeks, so this is a lot less than many people’s rent plus food and drink (including alcohol at night) in their default life back home.
-Chip