Sabbatical - My Pursuit of HappYness

All good things come to an end because that's what makes them good.

I am back to work after my sabbatical experience. Let me break this for you, nothing magical happened :) It wasn't life changing but definitely a course correction. Did I enjoy it and would do it again if possible? Hell yeah!

Last phase of sabbatical was a mixed bag (See blog one and two here).

1. Travel Diary
2. Upskilling
3. Health
4. Closing Thoughts

1. Travel Diary( August - Time without kids)

• Maldives - Experienced pristine water & mesmerizing marine life in the coral reefs of Maldives. A tad expensive but worth a visit! Don't come back without the thrill of scuba, snorkeling & dolphin spotting. We swam with sharks literally! Well, baby sharks and not the great whites.

• Srilanka  - It was a surprise trip. Loved the laid back city and beaches. The rail journey to the hill city of Kandy left some permanent memories.

2. Upskilling

• Did few courses and certifications while some are in progress. I mainly focused on deep dive of cloud (AWS/GCP) and associated technologies.

and some more

• Could take out time to read few books. Few of my favorite ones & recommendations are :

• Met few old colleagues and mentors. Heard their interesting and unique journeys to realize that infinite possibilities exists all around us if we have the courage and grit.

• Participating in the Toastmasters club regularly.

3. Health

• I am running few miles everyday now and lost some weight(~5 kgs). Have built a mini gym at home with a treadmill, workout cycle and some weights. Kids are looking quite excited about it.
• Becoming more rigorous about eating healthy.
• Committed to change in lifestyle to start work at 8 AM and wind up by 6 PM to be with family or myself. This helps in beating the peak traffic as well. Plan to take any late evening calls while commuting or from home if urgent.

4. Closing thoughts

Sabbatical isn't a long vacation but an opportunity to recharge & rethink about life. It felt very different from usual holidays as well. A distance from regular life gave me an opportunity to identify what I missed and what I didn't. Few people might even get the answer to the big question of, "what they really want" from life, instead of "going with the flow".

Below are the pros, cons & lessons from my experiment :

• Pros

1. I got the true taste of leisure which is absolute fun and elevating for sometime. Change in routine is awesome & should be done regularly.
2. Time spent with family and friends. Kids thoroughly enjoyed it.
3. I'll cherish these pages of my life forever. I experienced a range of emotions which was rare in regular environment.
4. Satisfied my wanderlust.
5. Found a purpose/life project.
6. Got off the auto-pilot with fresh perspectives simulated by new surroundings. Travel conversations transitioned from the daily nuances to ideas & observations about where we are, experiences, culture, philosophy etc.

• Cons

1. I feel that I have lost momentum somewhat at work. Not sure if I should blame sabbatical or changed work environment. I will give it some time before I jump onto any conclusion.
2. The planning/budgeting doesn't work, so be careful. I wish I had dedicated more time to work on my health, volunteering and travel. I overestimated the time I had, so focus on upskilling and health was crammed towards the end.
3. I couldn't completely withdraw from work mentally during my time off. That nagging feeling of missing out on work front was a bit unsettling at times.

• What I learned

1. Revisited my relationship with time and money.
2. I don't need lot of money to live a happy life. The more time passed and the less money I had, the more comfortable I was.
3. Sabbatical is not a career or financial suicide.
4. Having strong work ethic is different from being a workaholic.
5. The feeling of freedom is priceless.
6. Take a step back frequently, clear the junk in your head, think and universe might have some important lessons for you. Focus on what "really matters".
7. Stop playing safe. Take risks.
8. The ability to be truly present in our work and in our lives beyond work is something worth mastering.

I wish I had captured more and proper pictures instead of quick point and shoots. A lesson for future self to be more sensible about picture suggestions from missus :)

Thank you everyone who helped & joined me during this lifetime experiment.