HOW TO TAKE A SABBATICAL

It can be hard to take a pause from work

By Yasmin Gagne

When was the last time you paused? When was the last time you deliberately created space between waking up and immediately reaching for the phone, or feeling hurt and instantly reacting with anger, or leaving a job and leapfrogging into the next?

If you’re a human in the modern world, your answer is maybe, “Never.”

Our culture encourages constant motion. From a young age, we learn to quickly move from one activity to the next. We fear and avoid liminal spaces—filling every last minute with scrolling and microtasking. But sprinting from one thing to the next can leave us feeling overwhelmed.

I am as guilty of this as anyone. As an entrepreneur, I move headlong toward every goal, and I always feel like my work is never done. To cope with our “always on” culture, I have learned to take small pauses. For me, this includes meditating each morning, taking a “digital sabbath” each week, and going on a silent retreat each year.

But earlier this year, I took a bigger pause than I ever had before. In my role as founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, I’d helped thousands of emerging leaders take gap years after high school. As I contemplated the parallels between their transitions and mine, I realized it was time to take my own advice.

Here’s what I learned about how to best take a sabbatical:

Define your questions

The first thing you should do when starting a sabbatical (or any transition) is determine what you want to learn and get out of the experience. Defining what questions you most want to answer can help you create the scaffolding for your experience. These questions can also serve as a compass to orient your time and attention.

There are a few ways to frame these questions. One is to think about your past, your present, and your future.

Once you know what you’re trying to learn, you can figure out who will help you gather the insight you’re seeking. Finding our real teachers often means moving beyond our associations with the term. These people don’t need to be older, wiser, or traditionally successful. The task is to find people who will tell you what you need to hear (not just what you want to hear) and help you see yourself more clearly.

Get uncomfortable

It is tempting to stay in our comfort zone, particularly if other parts of our lives are in flux. The problem is we don’t learn when we’re comfortable, we learn when we’re stretched. Leaving our comfort zone can feel terrifying, but it’s an essential step toward growth.

During my sabbatical, I nudged myself to do things that disoriented me. I picked up a guitar for the first time and struggled through the awkwardness of learning basic chords. I pulled old clothes from the depths of my closet and noticed how it felt to wear things that no longer felt like “me.” Toward the end of the summer, I spent a week in Sicily traveling with no agenda beyond spending time with myself. I followed my own rhythms and preferences, observing my own choices when no one was watching.

Being in an unfamiliar context doesn’t require traveling halfway around the world; changing your running route or exploring a new neighborhood can be enough to heighten your awareness and freshen your attention. The goal is to knock yourself out of your rote routine in order to see your instincts, patterns, and preferences anew.

Reflect rigorously

An essential part of finding power in the pause is creating practices that help us deepen our relationship with ourselves.

One form of reflection that I’ve found profoundly impactful is a daily writing practice. I’d always been curious about “morning pages,” a practice first outlined in Juila Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. During my sabbatical, I committed to writing three stream-of-consciousness pages by hand right after waking up. I would often pick up the pen and wonder whether I had anything to say. Then, three pages later, I’d realize I was just getting started clearing the debris from my mind. Some days I followed Elizabeth Gilbert’s beautiful advice to write myself a letter from love, an exercise which helped me feel seen even when I was alone.

Unplug and leave room for spontaneity

The term “sabbatical” often has rarified associations; we think of tenured professors at fancy universities, or folks with big salaries and cushy benefits. And while pausing work by choice may feel unrealistic to many of us, a pause doesn’t need to be long or expensive to be powerful.

The process I outlined can be applied in so many contexts: a day-trip to the redwoods, a weeklong staycation, a monthlong road trip, or a year in a foreign country. Even unplugging from technology for a few hours can have huge benefits.

It is crucial to make sure your pause isn’t so packed or structured that it’s just another form of busy-ness. The most powerful transitions have the right amount of structure but leave room for spontaneity and discovery.

It’s rare that the world gives us space to pause. But ultimately, we need to give ourselves permission. Because taking time to understand who we are and who we’re becoming isn’t selfish. It’s the most important thing we can do to figure out how we’ll spend our one wild and precious life, and to get to work doing it.

The Covenant

Release Date: 20 April

Genre: Action, Thriller

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim

Synopsis: On his last tour of duty in Afghanistan, Sergeant John Kinley is teamed with local interpreter Ahmed to survey the region. When their unit is ambushed on patrol, Kinley and Ahmed are the only survivors.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

Date: 4 May

Genre: Adventure, Action

Cast: Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana

Synopsis: Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

AIR: COURTING A LEGEND

Release Date: 27 April

Genre: Drama

Cast: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis

Synopsis: Follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball: Michael Jordan.

The Black Demon

Date: 4 May

Genre: Action, Thriller

Cast: Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola

Synopsis: Oilman Paul Sturges (Josh Lucas) takes his family to Bahia Negra, the site of Paul’s best-performing rig, but the vibrant Mexican coastal town he once knew has mysteriously crumbled as the townsfolk believe the rig has awoken a shark of legend.

Source: cinescape.com.kw

Renfield

Release Date: 27 April

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina .

Synopsis: In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula. Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding.

Ride On

Release Date: 11 May

Genre: Action, Comedy

Cast: Jackie Chan, Haocun Liu

Synopsis: Jackie Chan is back as a stuntman who is unable to take care of his beloved horse, Red Hare. He seeks help from his daughter and her boyfriend when notified that the horse may be auctioned off to cover his debts.

Dji Avata

First person view drones have really taken off recently. Allowing you to put on a headset and fly a drone from a first person view, these unique devices are the closest you can feel to flying like a bird. DJI has released its latest version of this technology known as the DJI Avata. It is made to be more durable, and ready for any unfortunate crashes. You can pilot it via a controller or a joystick which mimics the movements of your hand. It also comes with plenty of clever features like the ability to use custom routes, follow a person or vehicle, and return to the starting point if it goes too far away.

iRobot Roomba J7+

iRobot, not to be confused with the 2004 Will Smith classic, is the leading creator of robot vacuums with the Roomba range. Getting smarter each year, the new Roomba J7+ combines both vacuum and mop in one machine. This itself isn’t new, but the company has introduced a new selfretracting mop feature. The mop lifts out of the way when it approaches carpet, only using the mop in the places you want it. In theory, this means a robot vacuum that can be fully independent and doesn’t need to be assisted… so this is how the robot uprising starts?

Meta Quest Pro

Ah yes, the metaverse - the supposed future of our digital world. While this new virtual land hasn’t exactly begun successfully, many tech leaders are still very much of the view that we’ll soon be plugged in, enjoying our own digital house, job and life. If you want to get in now and enjoy the metaverse and virtual reality, the Meta Quest Pro 2 will likely be the best way to do this. Meta, previously known as Facebook, has poured money into this to offer the latest and most impressive specs available in the world of VR.

Sony Linkbuds

Sony has always been at the forefront of headphone technology and with its latest pair, it is doing something rather unique. These headphones feature a hole in them (by design –don’t worry, no parts are missing). This means you can be more aware of your surroundings and people desperately trying to get your attention while enjoying your music. It features other clever features like touch control by tapping the skin by your ear and volume that adjusts to match your environment.

BIOLITE FIREPIT+

We love bonfires (and barbecues!) but it does get tiresome having to dance around the fire all evening to dodge the eye-watering smoke. The FirePit+ eliminates smoke by making your fire hotter. Battery-powered fans at the bottom of the fire basket stoke the flames from beneath, while the mesh sides let plenty of air in. The improved airflow means the flame burns hotter and more efficiently, therefore producing less smoke. Plus, you can put some charcoal in and rest a grill on the top. The fans last between 7 and 30 hours depending on how high they’re turned up, and the battery can be recharged via USB.

WITHINGS U-SCAN

Withings is already well known for its smart health products and its latest offering, the U-Scan – is your own mini health lab that sits in your toilet bowl so it can test your urine. U-Scan has been in development for four years and can reveal vital health information found in your daily urine. Urine has more than 3000 metabolites and is a popular way to monitor one’s health and provides an accurate snapshot of your body’s balance and health as well as detecting a variety of medical conditions.

Source: bestproducts.com