I realize that for many people the terms sabbatical, quitting, early retirement, semi-retirement, working for oneself, and consultant could mean about the same thing -- it all depends on how you define them, perceive them, and comes down to matters of semantics. I am not wanting to debate the semantics but am just trying to get some feedback from people who've taken sabbaticals (as I'm defining below).
My definition of sabbatical: A defined period of time in which you take a break from your current employment for rest, renewal, learning new skills, and hitting the "re-set" button on your life. It is a goal-oriented period in which you set goals for yourself (personal improvement, travel, professional, etc) and not a "freefall" (i.e., "I'm just going to hang out at the house and go back to work when the mood strikes me...") At the end of this period you may go back to paid employment, but not necessarily your former job (and this would not likely be the case in mine.)
My husband is an academic and so has options periodically for sabbaticals in which he can take either a year off at half pay, or a half year off at full pay... then return to his job. I am lobbying him to do one in the next year. If he did I'd quit my job in a heartbeat and tag along.
But, sometimes I think: "Create your OWN sabbatical" and have thoughts of doing this myself to hit the re-set button on my life. It would be highly doubtful that I would return to my current job, for that is one of the things I am trying to escape. But, it would give me an opportunity to return to another job, maybe try a new field, practice Mustachianism, and gather the resources for the next phase of my life. During this time I envision that I would do some or most of the following: actively transition to living on even less (adapting to different health insurance plan, etc.), give up my commute, maintain my CPA license but perhaps do project work and volunteer work, work on a landscape design certificate, read, do home-making kinds of things (to save money), basically engage in creative endeavors that I cannot do now.
Has anyone here taken a similar sabbatical, and what can you tell me about it? What advice can you offer?
I am 43; my husband is almost 53. Part of it is that he can easily retire early in a few years. I want to figure out what I'm going to do. And I just feel burned out by the current arrangement. It's hard considering other possibilities when you're on the hamster wheel.
I also think the concept of sabbatical would be understood well in the small academic community where we live and the larger one we'll probably retire to... I don't think it would be negatively perceived. Also, even though I'd have no intention of returning to my current job and would be clear on that upon leaving, I'd like to be able to cast in it this manner because quite honestly it's not all about my employer or my current job. It's about way more than that and I don't want to burn bridges.