8 sticky notes, arranged in a grid. Each represents a week in the 8-week long sabbatical I’m on.

I took 4 months between 2 jobs and,  to be honest, I did nothing because it was covid time and I was lost… so I tried to find back myself so consumed a lot of content… if it wasn’t Covid… Travel it would be :)

5 months. Went to Bolivia and Peru. Decompressed. Read a lot. Wrote. Enjoyed life!

and to put the above in context: I arrived into this sabbatical, and continue to spend the time I have in it, working on a side project that had remained on the periphery of work

(meta: I’m glad you opened up this thread…it ended up creating space in my mind to reflect ^ _ ^)

Nope. In Europe some companies offer you the possibility after a few years employed. Where I’m at now you can take a sabbatical every 3 years. 

I’d love to do it again.

Currently on one! On my 3rd month of a year long sabbatical. I am mostly exploring old curiosities, prototyping other careers, travelling and spending time with loved ones.

14 months, originally planned for 6 months but it took fully 3 months to stop having work stress dreams! Tried to draw a lot, explore indie game dev (game jams), traveled (we were with family in Bangkok as a base), and just chilled…

Not the best timing. Had you already found the new job before taking a break ?

Ah this is pretty nice. I wish I had this option

@julie a pattern that i think helps to explain how impactful the sabbatical im on is: “picking up the phone.”

I mean this literally & metaphorically: trying out the nascent idea that emerged unexpectedly, acting on the suggestion a friend shared in passing, etc.

No… As a consultant, I refused all proposed missions that didn’t match my beliefs then... I only found my new assignment when I thought that I was ready to “go back to work”.

Was it between jobs? It sounds amazing 😭

Yes, in 2019. 
I took 2 months off, and visited 7 countries in Southeast Asia.

Anyone here has taken a sabbatical? If yes, how long was it and what did you do with your time?

spent the first three months of 2023 at recurse center

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