So, as of Thursday, Dec 21st, I am on vacation. Until Nov 1st, 2024. Not bad, right? My sabbatical has now officially started. Before shutting down my laptop for the last time (upon which I immediately had a mini panic attack that I was essentially unreachable and probably left a bird’s nest full of loose ends behind), I was asked / advised by a friend to write down a few things that I expect to get out of this. The background to the request is the apparently widespread underlying belief or expectation that I indeed “need” a sabbatical. I must be close to a crisis (I am statistically at the mid-life point after all). Dislike my job. Feel unfulfilled. Need to find myself “Eat, Pray, Love” style. In other words, there must be some underlying issue, and thus I must be using the sabbatical to solve it. Thankfully, none of that is true. The truth, as unsatisfying as it seemingly is for many people, is that I am doing this for the pure hedonistic pleasure of it. It is childlike in its simplicity (my girlfriend regularly says I act like a five-year old, so it fits): I want to, and I can, so I am. End of story.

That said, it’d be a bit naïve to think that ten months away from work will not change me at all. I’m sure it’ll change me, I just have no hopes or expectations that it goes in any specific direction. Still, I appreciated the prompt, because now I can do a little before and after check. So here goes, here’s what I do and do not expect:

I do expect to:

• Have more energy for work when I’m back, but want to spend less time doing it
• Want to spend more time in nature (really going out on a limb here, I know)
• Actually undertake one of the side projects I’ve long tossed about in my head (when I’m back)
• Value the people in my life even more
• More strongly consider a temporary move elsewhere in the EU (like Amsterdam)
• Expand my comfort zone or ability to tolerate discomfort
• Think a lot about what my next career could be

I don’t expect to:

• Want to change careers
• Become more mature
• Suddenly want to do world tours every year, nor have my thirst for adventure completely quenched
• “Find” myself
• Change my overall world view (in case you’re wondering: individuals are lovely but groups are idiots; we’re too easily manipulated and too collectively dumb and corrupt to address global challenges like climate change, even those with relatively simple solutions (also like climate change), and thus are condemning ourselves to things getting unnecessarily bad for unnecessarily long before they eventually get better, which they will; life is beautiful anyway)

Pretty boring, but I’m searching for adventure, not answers, so I guess it makes sense. At least to me.