Entry #2 - 8/11/16 - Location: SW Flight 3090 Nashville > Denver
Work, will they care…and what if they do?
I’ll admit that I probably sat on these discussions longer than I originally planed. Because I had never heard of anyone in my career to this point having taken a “sabbatical” or “extended leave”, my hopes were not high. Frankly one of my gripes or concerns about my career as a whole has always been the impression that your job takes over much of your life and personality. Almost everyone I’ve worked with have been great, smart and hard working but in casual conversations will speak of how they’ve missed key life/family milestones because of some work commitment or another. It’s never said with any smiling contentedness but it’s also not said with any particular sadness or reflection either. And that may have been the most concerning part. Do these people really not care that this is “the way it is”? Do they even notice? Will they someday come to some drastic realization? Or does the money, lifestyle, future potential, etc. make up for missing so much? With thatmany questions, what I did know was I didn’t want to be in a position to even have those questions posed to me down the road.
Even though I rambled off into that sidebar, those were really some of the considerations to approaching this subject with work, mainly because I really didn’t think anyone would even comprehend what I was saying, let along support it. The approach I ended up taking, albeit unintentionally, was to float the idea with coworkers who knew me pretty well but were not in a position to give the thumbs up or down. I took a test-the-waters plan. The result was a surprisingly positive reaction. I honed my approach with the logical argument supplement. I knew I couldn’t just go full-bore, dirty vagabond story but including the concepts of once-in-a-career delineation of responsibilities and no debt, mortgage or kids appealed to the logical, in-his-shoes mindset.
So far a few of these conversations I felt more confident but still held a healthy amount of skepticism. As I progressed from one conversation to another, my finely-tuned (not really) talking points became less and less necessary. Once I got up to the decisions makers, I didn’t even get a chance to present my case. Much to my surprise, those in the leadership of my current role and office were quick to jump on board, saying that more people should be doing it and they wished they had done something like this. I believe certain individuals had been tipped off by some of the test-the-water colleagues but either way, it turned out to be a really positive reception. After getting some official thumbs up, including HR, I was just left with a very surprised and happy “huh!”
Current Thoughtfulness:
> I will save this for another entry down the road but: With all these work discussions about taking an extended leave was also the “what’s next after you come back?” question. I was also left with a “huh?”.
> Even beyond the where and what’s next, is this question (in my head) “what will it be like going back to a corporate, structured, demanding work environment after a trip like this?” It’s something that I expect and look forward to contemplating and discussing with Lara during the trip with snow falling on the roof of the van or with the back doors wide open and a view for miles.