This is a blog post I came across earlier today. How a TED talk inspired me to take a mid-career sabbatical. You should read it. I'm great at advertising, and that's my promotional plug. Winston Chen writes about how he decided to take a year off and moved to the Arctic Circle to spend more time with family, develop his hobbies, and he ends up finding a whole new passion for a new work. Stefan Sagmeister, in the original TED talk, speaks of how he takes a break from his job every seven years to rejuvenate his creativity for his job. I've heard several different variations on this idea of "taking a year off." You're probably wondering why I'm already thinking about taking a break from working when I haven't even started yet - I'm not. But this seemed like kind of a good idea.
Didn't the Biblical Israelites take a Year of Jubilee every seven years? Well, that's how I remembered it, but when I looked it up, it was actually every 49 years, but you know... same thing. During this Year of Jubilee, they didn't plant or harvest, they lived off their savings - or God's blessings, really. All debts were forgiven and slaves returned to their families. Seems like a pretty good year.
So I was thinking about what my version of this idea would look like. I probably wouldn't take a year off to just be creative or develop some hobbies. My ESTJ personality needs a little more structure than that. And I probably won't return my slaves. I do, however, think it's important to maintain your creativity and find new passions throughout the years. And I certainly plan to continue educating myself in the career of physical therapy, because that's important, interesting, and... ethical. But what if every seven years, I took a year off from making a serious income, and spent the year "off the grid" using my skills in physical therapy in new areas, maybe helping develop new physical therapy clinics in other countries... something. Maybe this is a little bit ambitious, maybe not. It's just a thought. But I think this year of change and growth is a good idea.
I guess I should get back to studying, since I do need to pass boards to actually start working.
Didn't the Biblical Israelites take a Year of Jubilee every seven years? Well, that's how I remembered it, but when I looked it up, it was actually every 49 years, but you know... same thing. During this Year of Jubilee, they didn't plant or harvest, they lived off their savings - or God's blessings, really. All debts were forgiven and slaves returned to their families. Seems like a pretty good year.
So I was thinking about what my version of this idea would look like. I probably wouldn't take a year off to just be creative or develop some hobbies. My ESTJ personality needs a little more structure than that. And I probably won't return my slaves. I do, however, think it's important to maintain your creativity and find new passions throughout the years. And I certainly plan to continue educating myself in the career of physical therapy, because that's important, interesting, and... ethical. But what if every seven years, I took a year off from making a serious income, and spent the year "off the grid" using my skills in physical therapy in new areas, maybe helping develop new physical therapy clinics in other countries... something. Maybe this is a little bit ambitious, maybe not. It's just a thought. But I think this year of change and growth is a good idea.
I guess I should get back to studying, since I do need to pass boards to actually start working.
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