One of the benefits of working hard, living within your means, and investing wisely is the options it gives you at certain points in your life. One of these options is to take a sabbatical from your work for a few months, or even a year. While this is shocking (and completely unimaginable) to many Americans, it’s more commonplace that many would think among Old Money Guys and Gals.
A sabbatical provides perspective: you put a little distance between yourself and the routine, the familiar. You put your material possessions, that so often define and encumber, into storage. You pack a suitcase with the bare necessities of life. You board a plane, train or boat, and land in a different place. You rent a small apartment (or room), and live a different, simple and economical life while feasting on the new and the unusual. You get a fresh, working definition of who you are, without your office, your car, your house, your position in your community.
Surprisingly, you find that you live on a fraction of what you had lived on during your work-a-day existence (unless your sabbatical finds you holed up in London, Paris, New York City, or Tokyo). You have the time to really interact with people in a meaningful way. You may learn a new language. You will definitely see the world through new eyes.
You have the chance to take a deep breath. Read a big book. Walk without a destination. And return to whatever life you had before refreshed with reflection.
Something to consider.
- BGT