Views From #SabbaticalLife
I walked into the office that Monday morning with a little extra bounce in my step. Mentally I was pacing and the wings of the butterflies in my stomach were growing by the hour. By the afternoon, I had not come to a decision but as my boss was leaving for the day he said, “see you tomorrow.” To which I subconsciously blurted out, “no you won’t...I quit.” As we continued to talk and as I repeated the words, “I quit,” the more at peace I felt, the more the decision just felt right.
The last two years have been the most difficult waters to navigate through in my career as a professional. This piece won’t get into great detail about the issues I was dealing with but the abysmal leadership and toxic culture that I was in was eroding the zeal that I possess to live my best life. I am the type of person that typically has some semblance of a plan when I make any decisions. However, that Monday I had just had enough of allowing a toxic culture to rob me of my zest for life and I wanted to boldly reclaim my happiness so I quit with no job offers and no action plan. One of the things that I had not fully thought through was that upon quitting I would no longer have access to a laptop. Without a laptop I wouldn't be unable to continue writing, whoops. Nevertheless, that is why you have not heard from me and for that I apologize. That said, the Silverback is roaring again!
Eight weeks have passed since that Monday and I’ve learned, confirmed, and had some wonderful experiences living my best sabbatical life. This past Monday, I started a new chapter in my career working for Microsoft. Microsoft is a world-class organization and they have treated me exceptionally well in the past few weeks. I feel incredibly blessed to be on this team and I am hopeful for what the future holds again. As I reflect on the last seven weeks, I wanted to share with you a few things that I hope you find encouragement in:
Be Courageous
Truthfully, I should have quit a long time ago but I allowed my fears to paralyze my ability to take action. I didn’t trust myself and I lacked the confidence in my own intelligence to land on my own two feet. In short, I lacked the courage to reclaim the happiness that I deserved. The questions that ran through my mind were the biggest obstacles standing in the way of me making this decision. With so many members of my community unemployed, was I really going to quit my job because I was being treated poorly? Am I that much of a "millennial snowflake" that I can’t endure these rough waters until I find a new job? What if I don’t find a job and my life spirals out of control? These are just a small sampling of questions that I grappled with as I was making a decision. Now I don’t recommend folks going out to quit their job all willy-nilly after a rough patch at work and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I had a couple dollars saved up help me make this decision. But with my eyes laser focused on reclaiming my happiness, I stepped out of that boat with a full heart of courage and placed a bet on myself. This will sound cliché, but in the end it all worked out. I quickly landed three job interviews with three major companies and got two job offers! That would not have been possible if I didn’t silence my fears, speak confidence into myself, and have courage to take action.
Treat Yourself
I have been working since I was thirteen years old. In college I had three jobs and graduated in three years with three internships on my resume. I am blessed to say that over the last eighteen years, I haven’t had any considerable amount of time where I was unemployed. This was the first time in my adult life, where I was not beholden to an employer and I must say that it was awesome! I believe that if you work hard then you should treat yourself (within reason). So in the first week of my #SabbaticalLife, with my dopamine levels through the roof, I treated myself to three things that I’ve always wanted to do: I bought a sports car, I made a reservation to experience a tasting menu at a Michelin Star restaurant, and booked a trip back to my favorite city, Sydney, Australia. Why? Because most of the time life will bring you some unbearably difficult periods and the daily grind can have some really dark moments. So in the times where you can celebrate life's blessings you better embrace and cherish those periods with full gusto because they don’t come around often.
Spend Time With People You Love
The reality is that as you’re reading this piece you’re the oldest you’ve ever been and the youngest you’ll ever be at the same time. We’re all getting older and especially in these uncertain times, tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Over the last seven weeks I made it a point to spend time with the people that I love the most. I enjoyed the memories that I made with my siblings, spending time with my family and taking my grandmother to the DMW, going to visit close friends and cousins, and reconnecting with friends in Australia. There were two common themes in all of these moments of connection: there was love and there was hearty laughter. I can’t stress enough the importance of intentionally developing, building, and nurturing connection with the ones you love. I am blessed beyond measure to have experienced those moments with the incredible people within my community.
I don’t plan on not contributing to the Soulful Silverback for this long again but I am back to my usual roar! I hope that you find encouragement in my experience and that you find your courage, treat yourself, and spend time with the ones you love in the coming days and weeks!