Sabbatical: On purpose
Don’t think too hard about this, or you’ll make the same mistake I made and over-index on your head vs your heart.
First, let’s acknowledge that the concept of “purpose” can be complex and scary. It is not an easy place to start. But we are going to start here regardless because we aren’t afraid to step out of our comfort zone (RIGHT!?!).
To begin, let’s take the idea of your life’s purpose off the table. Instead, we will reframe. Focus only on the purpose of your sabbatical. Right away, that should make things easier - it narrows the scope. It might help to think of it as A sabbatical in your life, and not THE ONLY sabbatical in your life. Takes off some of the pressure.
Ask yourself:
What do I want out of this?
What do I NEED out of this?
Why do I want/need this?
Why now?
Et voila, you have your sabbatical’s purpose.
It might sound overly simplistic, and maybe it is, but it worked for me.
I wanted to live in France again and practice my French, and I didn’t want to wait until my retirement years to experience this. That’s it. That was my sabbatical’s purpose.
Interestingly, this activity only worked for me the second time I did it. The first time, I was overthinking - over-indexing on my head vs my heart. I was second-guessing my Whats and Whys. Shouldn’t I be wanting more out of this? Shouldn’t I have some kind of hobby that I advance during this time? Do I even have a hobby?! I felt guilty. If I take time off work, shouldn’t I aim to accomplish something?
In retrospect, I think that “accomplishing something” is a very North American career-oriented concept. There doesn’t need to be such pressure around it. Accomplishments can be big or small. In France, I walk over 20k steps a day, am besties with the local cheese shop owner, and have been asked to teach a beginner French class to a group of newcomers. THOSE are my accomplishments, and I am so proud of them.
It is important to define and focus on your purpose, but it doesn’t have to be so scary. Do this activity as many times as it takes to feel true to you, and to balance the battle of head vs heart.
A bientot!
Milena
