Maybe it’s time for a break?

Is it true, do most people hate their jobs? While some unhappy employees muster up the courage to change careers, others opt to grin and bear it. On average we are working longer hours than ever and lots of us are working 50+ hours per week just to get by.  Our lives have become more expensive and it is seems as though we need to work more and more just to “sustain”.

On reading a recent article I discovered that one in three professionals in the UK plan to take a pre-retirement sabbatical, is this a trend that we’re likely to see down under in the next few years?

If you’re falling out of love with your job and you feel like you could benefit from a change in scenery then maybe it’s time for a break? Even if things are going well it’s unhealthy not to call time out now and again. We shouldn’t be made to feel bad about unplugging and recharging the batteries after all we’re only human. There’s even speculation that the Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is feeling the pressure and may take 2017 off before he burns out at the ripe old age of 31!

Whatever your situation might be, here are 10 reasons to consider taking a sabbatical now.

It’s not as expensive as you think. Cost is one of the biggest reasons people think they can’t take a sabbatical. The truth is, it really depends on where you will live and what you’ll be doing.

The economy probably isn’t getting better any time soon. Would you rather look back on this time and remember how you spent months looking for a job that didn’t really exist, or how you used the downtime to reevaluate your life, experience a new culture, learn a new hobby or even start a new business?

It’s a great way to change careers and unplug. Getting away from it all might be the only way you can really reset or change course. If you continue around the day-to-day, making significant changes is tough. Taking a few months off will give you the space you need to figure things out.

People in other countries have it already figured out. When you realise that not everyone in the world is so productivity-focused you’ll understand that taking time off can actually be a good thing.

You’ll reconnect with who you really are. After years or decades of spending 10+ hours a day working for someone else, it’s easy to lose track a little of what we really want as individuals and of who we really are underneath our “work selves”.

You could have a major breakthrough about what you want from life. When did you ever really “decide” to pursue the path you’re on now anyway? Are you doing what you really want to be doing, or are you following more of the default or acceptable path?

Those things you stress over now aren’t that important. Once you’re away from your old job for a while, you’ll start to see clearly again. You will start to understand that the truly important things in life exist outside of work – and you might begin to wonder how you ignored them for so long.

You might meet someone special! The best part is that making new friends just leads to a cycle of being even happier and meeting even more new people.

Aha! moments require a wandering mind. If your current life is like most working adults’, you probably don’t have much free time to really let your mind wander. Schedules, meetings, email and more meetings keep our minds in the analytical mode most of the day. A sabbatical is a great way to break the routine of daily life and let your mind wander where it will.

…and sadly it’s a fact that normal life will still be there waiting when you return!

Taking a prolonged break can give you a new perspective and appreciation for your life. If you’ve ever considered taking a sabbatical, now might be the right time for a number of reasons.