Radical Sabbatical

It sounds like something out of the Bible—and it is—but the sabbatical as we know it actually became a practice in the United States thanks to Harvard University. In the 1880s, Harvard’s administration rolled out a policy designed to aid faculty in “resting and recovering” but also to facilitate “advancements in knowledge” that could only be gained by traveling elsewhere to pursue extensive research. My faculty friends can attest to the complete omission of rest and recovery from most university sabbatical policies today, but a sabbatical is still a time-honored benefit for people working in certain sectors. However, although I’ve spent my entire 25-year career working in universities, this policy only applies to faculty. As a Student Affairs professional, I’ve never been eligible for a sabbatical and was too nervous to try to create my own by taking even two weeks off between jobs. So a sabbatical has always seemed out of reach for me, and for most everyone I know. But listening to this podcast on my way to work this morning from The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, a professor at Yale University, convinced me otherwise. So please allow me to enlighten you with my freshly-garnered knowledge and wisdom!

In this episode, Dr. Santos interviews D.J. DiDonna, Harvard MBA and founder of The Sabbatical Project. I’m not going to rehash the whole podcast; you can listen to it on your own and form your own opinions. But the speakers make a very compelling case for why—and how—ordinary people might prioritize dedicated periods of rest and recovery within their working careers. Wish I’d heard about this years ago! But is it really a sabbatical if you have to finance it yourself? DiDonna argues that as more people start to take their own sabbaticals, it creates momentum to persuade employers to offer funded sabbaticals as benefits to employees with significant seniority, for instance every 6-7 years, as at a university. According to DiDonna, “A sabbatical isn’t just an expense. It’s an investment in your future self.” He views sabbaticals as “a more humane relationship with work.” And future employers who will negatively judge you for your sabbatical may not be places where your future self will be happy working anyway. Because unlike a two-week vacation, this experience is probably going to change you.

Interestingly, Rob has actually made a point of practicing this throughout his career. In fact, he’s still rolling out new-to-me stories from an epic months-long camping trip he took across the Southwest with his dog almost 20 years ago, long before we met. Rob’s experience of taking extended time between jobs is something that may be more within the reach of non-faculty such as ourselves. But it does require planning and prioritizing, sometimes many years in advance. And as it turns out, Rob and I were doing more than just dreaming about our plans for living and working in Yellowstone over the last 10 years—we were actually laying the groundwork for them to manifest. Although we didn’t realize it at the time, we pretty much followed DiDonna’s guidelines to a T.

How we did it in a nutshell: we planned, saved money, researched extensively, and took action when the time was ripe. Rob in particular spent lots of time researching things on the internet such as “the most popular national parks,” “working at Yellowstone,” or “how to rehab an Airstream.” You may already be engaging in activities like this without realizing that it might be more than just daydreaming. As he gained knowledge about these topics, Rob was actively formulating a plan for how we could actually make this work. His research informed our decision to go with a vintage Airstream, after ruling out other possibilities: customizing a Ford Transit; building out a U-Haul box truck; buying a teardrop pop-out trailer; buying a new Airstream, and so on. He also learned more about what to look for in a vintage Airstream, which helped him recognize when he had found just the right trailer.

Additionally, I started looking at our finances and putting together a detailed budget well in advance. I tracked our monthly expenses over several years to see how our recurring expenses might change over the course of a year, what kinds of unanticipated expenses we had, and whether we could pay off any of our outstanding debt early. Having this information helped us determine how much we will need to work at our seasonal jobs, and where we might need to cut corners. One piece of financial advice I really took to heart was to have a significant cash base (like a year’s worth of essential expenses, if possible) so that you don’t have to dip into retirement savings or reserves in emergencies. Even having a much smaller “cash cushion” stashed away for easy access can help you sleep more comfortably. And no, it’s not under our mattress!

Although it seemed like an unrelated financial move at the time, we also purchased a three-flat about 7 years ago that Rob could rehab between jobs. We needed a place to live, as we were outgrowing our small condo, and we wanted a home that would provide more than just home equity. A lot of research went into this decision in terms of location, buildings whose needs matched Rob’s skill-set, and overall marketability. We found a building with one habitable unit, in a neighborhood that was within walking distance of my job and a major commuter train line, and put in an offer. This involved a substantial cash outlay and necessitated dipping into our retirement fund for part of the down payment (so you have to be old enough to do that or have some other means of financing this). But we moved into the habitable unit and Rob put in sweat equity rehabbing the other two over the next few years. The end result is a beautiful and modernized property that we can live in ourselves, that’s paid for by the rent from the other two units. So we don’t have to sell our house in order to make the plan work, and we have someplace to live in between park seasons.

Perhaps the most compelling part of the podcast for me, though, is when DiDonna talks about the issue of “Responsibility.” Anticipating questions like “Isn’t this kind of irresponsible?” or, more specifically, “Are we just supposed to take our kids out of school and re-enroll when we return? Isn’t that disruptive for them?” DiDonna mentions that some of the most inspiring stories he’s heard are from people with kids. Granted, it’s important to know your own individual child and how they will handle this potentially major disruption in their daily routine. But like temporary home-schooling, he argues that the learning experiences kids can have on an extended trip can help to augment learning that takes place in the classroom: astronomy, zoology, geology, history. Families can go see the stars in Patagonia, or go whale watching off Cape Cod. Moreover, life is short and it doesn’t necessarily pay to “wait until retirement” if you’re not healthy and/or mobile enough to engage in such an adventure once you hit retirement age. So that means finding a way to balance your responsibilities: to your young kids, your aging parents, your employer or other obligations, and yourself.

But perhaps even more importantly, everyone involved in the sabbatical—even folks without kids—can learn some important life skills: prioritizing, budgeting, planning, or pivoting in the face of unanticipated situations. Not to mention the importance of knowing when and how to rest and recover, as well as how to create the kind of life that really feels worth living. I feel like we could all benefit from that. Whatever someone else may think of our decision to pursue this path for the beginning of our retirement, and whatever challenges we may face over the coming months and years, we will rest secure in the knowledge that we decided to pursue a major dream. And for us, that feels better than growing old and never trying at all.