If we want to get technical, I didn’t really accomplish what I wanted to do with this career break, which was to pivot into a new industry. I’m going back to work on Monday to the one I tried to escape. It burns a little, but I have some personal things going on that require some financial stability if I want to sleep at night, and this job actually has some aspects and perks that fit into my big picture.
There were some smaller goals I set at the beginning of this break (mainly for the social media cleanse, but I carried them over into the rest of my break), so let’s see how things panned out:
- Running/hiking/trail running (as long as my cranky knees will allow). The knees did not allow. I have pretty much stopped running because my IT bands are sadistic. I did get a little hiking in, though not as much as I thought I would. I suppose I still have a few days to get a beautiful October hike in before I go back to work. Plus, I’m closing my small business in the next 30 days, and I should have a little more weekend free time. I have, however, been walking 3 miles about 4-5 days each week in my own neighborhood, which has been an AMAZING habit to pick up!
- Yoga. Years of desk work has also rendered my spine geriatric. I did fairly well here. My booking app says I’ve taken 33 yoga classes since I started my break, and I’ve got 3 on the schedule this week. I’ve been doing yoga inconsistently for over a decade, and I always say “WHY DID YOU STOP DOING THIS?” every time I start back up. I feel strong, bendy, and mobile. It helps with the headspace, too, and I find that I don’t feel as depleted or beaten up as I do when I run or lift heavy. It’s kind of amazing.
- Reading. Not what it should have been, and I’ll tell you why: my part time job this summer required a lot of social media work, so my social media time limit I set after my total break away in April didn’t really hold up. As I’m transitioning to a different role in my part time job, I shouldn’t have to do too much in the way of social media anymore and should be able to more easily honor that 30 min time limit. Such a time suck and easy distraction, and I think if I could back off of it again, I’d get a lot more reading done. I have consumed CRAZY amounts of podcasts though during my long walks a few days each week, and feel like I’ve absorbed a lot of great new knowledge there.
- Purging excess items in our home. I can finally say YES!! This goal got a late start, but I would say by early August, I’d started to make a dent in things. I have been listing things on my local Buy Nothing Facebook group and have put a pretty large dent in those little “extras” we’ve accumulated over the years. Just yesterday, I took a trunk load of items to our local thrift store. It felt pretty good, and there’s more of a sense of airiness in the house. There are many more layers to work through, but it’s happening.
5. Going through my mom’s belongings. She passed nearly 4 years ago, and I still haven’t tackled some of it. Like the above, it got a late start, but I’ve made some progress. There is still a long way to go, but I find that it’s kind of like flexing a muscle, and you get a little stronger the more practice you get. I also find that, when I lose momentum, I can consume content that helps with inspiration. A to Zen Life‘s YouTube channel has helped a lot with this. Marissa allows the viewer into intimate decluttering sessions with items from family members that have passed. She doesn’t hide the emotional side of dealing with grief and sentimental attachments to things. I was able to say goodbye to a few items that, if you’d asked me to a few years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to. This is still very much a work in progress, but there is progress.
So, while the big picture goal didn’t happen then way I’d wanted, the break was 100% the right move and I was able to make some solid progress towards other goals in my life.
If you had six months away from full time work, what would your main goals be during your time off?
-K