I had taken the last two weeks of September off from work. Originally I intended to just step away from work. There has been so much change over the last six months, I just needed a breath and a break. I kept getting asked where I was going and had to sheepishly explain nowhere. About halfway through my vacation, I realized I was taking a sabbatical. I have been with my company for almost seven years and have seen it go from a small startup to a large public company. This change required a tremendous amount of adaptation on my part and energy invested into moving things forward. I am tired and need some space before I must adapt to the next phase.
In the past year, with the shift in focus brought on by the contracted economy, the changes have been uninspiring. The relationship with the company has changed and the joy I once found has shifted from a mission to a job. My company is going in a direction I find misaligned with what I had originally been attracted to. Like any relationship, things change on both sides and you have to adapt and change with them. It is the commitment you have to actively choose to renew. I am mostly happy with my role, the people I work with, the challenges I am to learn from, and the product I am working on. I will stay for now.
This sabbatical has allowed me to relax into my life outside of work. I did not do anything drastically different. I just did more of the parts of me that are not working. I had some space to breathe. I had some space to listen to music. I had some space to ruminate on the past. I had some space to consider where this all headed and what part I want to play. There were no big answers, but there was the reminder that thinking is not doing, and having a bit of boredom has instilled in me that I do better with doing and am pleased that I enjoy the process of doing.