21–30 of 74 posts
I understand the family commitment, but could you travel for a shorter amount of time? Even spending one month somewhere else can have a profound affect. Have you travelled much outside of your home country before?
Consistent, frequent, long, unstructured thinking time. Enjoy listening to your thoughts.
Are you American, or similarly to only have two and a half free days (yes, hyperbole) when you return to work? Then I'd recommend traveling anyway. I'd recommend either Europe or Southern Africa, three or four weeks if possible. (if you're not essential for childcare or similar at home, and more important if you have not seen the world before).
Have you thought about picking up any hobbies? Six months would give you plenty of time to learn a hobby and really get into it; you have enough time to try a few. It might be nice to think back on your sabbatical while doing your new hobby in the future.
Hobbies and skill building are the way to go. I just finished a 12-month sabbatical during which I learned scuba, sailing, skiing, surfing, and the R programming language. I also read 40 non-fiction books. Just lying on the beach gets boring.
See Jeff Bezos' regret minimization framework for inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwG_qR6XmDQ. Imagine yourself at 80. What would you regret not doing?
Have you thought about picking up any hobbies? Six months would give you plenty of time to learn a hobby and really get into it; you have enough time to try a few. It might be nice to think back on your sabbatical while doing your new hobby in the future.
Hobbies and skill building are the way to go. I just finished a 12-month sabbatical during which I learned scuba, sailing, skiing, surfing, and the R programming language. I also read 40 non-fiction books. Just lying on the beach gets boring.
- Learn a new skill/craft. If you are in tech, maybe something more physical, cooking, woodworking,etc. Six months is a good amount of time to build a base. - Learn a foreign language, again 6 months is a perfect amount of time. Highly rewarding. - Work on holes in knowledge, build a self-course around it. Algorithms, dbs, whatever. - Pickup an new programming language. - Build a side project, doesn't have to be comm…
> If you are in tech, maybe something more physical, cooking, woodworking,etc. Second this. Spend vast amounts of time in front of a screen, woodworking provides much stress relief, even when you screw things up.