Tyler / Sabbatical 2007
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[edit] What is a sabbatical?
Well, the "official" definition is this:
sabbatical - Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sabbatical).
An extended period of leave, often one year long, taken by an employee in order to carry out projects not otherwise associated with the employee's job. During the sabbatical, the employer may pay some or all of the wages that would have been otherwise earned or some or all of the expenses incurred. University lecturers, for example, may be granted a one-year paid sabbatical once every seven years.
Wow, wouldn't that be nice! To work for an employer who would actually pay you to take a year off and work on whatever projects you might like to work on!
[edit] My sabbatical
Unfortunately, I haven't such luck as that, so I chose to take a more "do-it-yourself" sabbatical: quitting my job.
2007-09-07 was my last day of work at my previous employer, and therefore, I suppose, the start of my sabbatical.
Now I wouldn't recommend this to everyone. It kind of requires you to plan ahead a little bit to make sure you have enough money saved up to pay for living expenses during your sabbatical. But in my case, that was the case, and I was delighted to be able to have this opportunity -- to "carry out projects not otherwise associated with the employee's job".
Perhaps mine isn't truly technically a sabbatical. Perhaps "becoming self-employed" would be a better description.
But I prefer either of those terms to "being unemployed", "not having a job", "being between jobs", etc. Those seem to imply that the only "normal" thing to do with your life is to work for an employer; anything else is apparently seen as undesirable, and certainly only temporary, if one can help it.
I find it unfortunate that one's identity is linked so closely with one's job -- and that "employeeness" is accepted as pretty much the only way. ... Maybe it is for most people, most of the time. I'll probably be back at it after a while.
But first -- I wanted to do this. Partly as an experiment, and partly out of seeming necessity (to "catch up", etc.). We'll see how it turns out...
People just seem pretty resigned to the fact that they'll have to work most of their lives. Of course, they plan to retire eventually ... when they're 65 or so.
Ideally, I wish it were possible to live with near-0 expenses so you wouldn't need to spend so much of our waking hours / week at a job.
40 hours per week at a job?? Are you kidding me, what!?
Sigh... What a cruel drudgery we were born into -- this rat race. And one feels powerless to change it or get out of it.
But at least -- at least one can take a break from it every once in a while. And that's what I intend to do.
Other ways of looking at it:
- becoming self employed, being a freelancer
- continuing my education
[edit] Doing some individualized education
The way I see it, it's a lot cheaper alternative to going back to school. I should figure out how much my (daily/hourly) expenses are right now compared with how they would be if I were also paying for tuition.
[edit] Questions
Can I actually keep myself motivated and productive during this time? Will I be able to use my time efficiently and effectively when I have "so much of it"?
Will I get done everything I have planned? Will I feel like I've gotten anything accomplished at all? Will I even be able to define all of my goals in unambiguous, tangible enough terms?
What reactions will I get from people? Will I be seen as foolish? Selfish? Smart? Wise?
What's the minimum amount of money I need to spend in order to maintain a comfortable standard of living? Will I be disciplined enough to be frugal?
When it's all said and done, how will I feel about it?
[edit] Responses / Reactions
Some people seem to be a little surprised that I quit my job without having another one already lined up.
2007-09-06: Aaron admits that he's actually a little bit jealous of me.
2007-09-11: Alex admits being a little bit jealous of me.
2007-09-12: I think Kevin or Rocky admitted that they were actually kind of jealous.
2007-09-24: Grandpa thought it sounded like a good idea -- taking some time to do what I think I like to do and am good at, and maybe figuring out just where I want to work.
2007-10-05: Jeremy Evans said he was envious of me, that he thought it was a very good idea what I was doing (taking a break, catching up). He asked me what I would be doing with all my time. When I told him that I would be doing a lot of reading, he approved and said that was exactly what he would be doing if he could.
[edit] Activities
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[edit] Reflection / "post-mortem"
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