“The essentials to happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” — William Blake

I’ve written before about taking a sabbatical. I’ve never really had a break from working. Working in technology, I’ve been pink-slipped a few times over the last ten years. But even then I usually saw the handwriting on the wall and had a new position lined up. Aside from a 21-day trip to New Zealand, I’ve never had more than two weeks off between jobs or for vacation since I started working as an adult.

What would you do with a big pause from work? It is interesting to hear the answers. In March, Jane Bennett Clark wrote an article in Kiplinger’s called: A Pause that Refreshes and argues that you really can take a break from your job.

She writes, “Swill the coffee, fight the traffic, shuffle the papers, field the phone calls, coddle the clients, answer the e-mails, fight the traffic in the opposite direction. Do it again tomorrow. Thirty years hence, will you regret the things you didn’t do, such as climb Mount Everest or travel the world or take the kids across the ocean to meet their first cousins. Maybe it’s time to take a sabbatical to put your life and interests on the front burner.”

“You say you can’t possibly jump off the gerbil wheel, even for a few months? Sure you can.” They anticipated your objections (below) then go read the article to learn how to overcome them.

– The boss won’t let me
– I can’t afford it
– No one else can do my job
– My business will suffer
– I can’t manage my affairs from afar
– I wouldn’t know what to do with my time.

The last question begs an answer. What would you do with time off? I find it odd that some people wouldn’t know what to do with their time. Actually, I wouldn’t travel. I’ve seen the world through work. I would stay home: to write and work on a list of ideas / projects. That might sound silly to some, but I would love to just have time off to work on my stuff. This would make me so happy.

Clark continues, “Start with a passion and do something that you’ve always dreamed of doing. Leslie Brenton Ward, a corporate ghostwriter in Chicago, took nine months off in 2000 to write fiction under her own name. Mike Owen, a CPA in Newark, CA, cut his workload to expand a boutique winery. He came up with a plan with the help of Clive Prout, The Sabbatical Coach.”

“For most people, the chill-out scenario is the scariest option. People are afraid of downtime, of having nothing planned — but that’s what they really need to rediscover themselves.” Stephen Melikian, of Jones Hall, a law firm in San Francisco, took a nine-week sabbatical last summer.”

He divided his time between traveling abroad and kicking back in his own neighborhood. “You have a different perspective on the world when you’re at the grocery store at 2 o’clock in the afternoon with nothing to worry about but what to get.”