I've been on a sabbatical from work for about 15 months. I'm super fortunate to have been able to take this time off. It's something I'd been meaning to do for a long time, and it's proven to be great. I recommend it to everyone, if you can afford it.

An interesting observation about how people react to a sabbatical is that they always ask you about all the amazing things you must be doing. Traveling the world, learning a new skill, changing careers, volunteering .. oh the things I must be doing with all this free time! True I have done a lot of cool stuff - traveled a bunch, started to learn to play the guitar and piano, improved my tennis, reconnected with friends, read a lot of books. But the most important thing I've done is to learn to get off that treadmill. To pause.

To be honest I'm not sure if I truly learned it. Part of me says I did it because pausing was, ironically, something that I promised to do. Was I honestly able to let go? To not think about what's next, what I could be doing, should be doing. Not 100%. But at least I was able to pause with my actions. Not traveling for 4-5 months, enjoying my home and neighborhood, taking it easy, going on long walks, meeting new people, enjoying idle time with old friends; those times are how I will remember this sabbatical.

Much of our culture, especially in the western hemisphere, is about doing, executing, succeeding, moving. There's no time to pause, to listen, to rest. "Oh I would go crazy if I had that much free time". Heard this from so many people. And yes I had times I felt like I was going crazy. Maybe you need to go crazy. Go crazy so you realize how important it is to be kind to yourself. To love yourself in that time of resting.

As I reflect on this time there were two books that motivated me to cherish this pause: Siddhartha and Transitions. Highly recommend both. Also highly recommend not waiting for a free time to do all those things you think you want to do. Unless you're raising a kid or are taking care of a loved one, and are a white collar urbanite, you should make enough time to try something new. Don't make excuses.

And if you get a chance to take a break - please try pausing.