What is a career break and what is a sabbatical?

A career break is a temporary period that you deliberately step away from your employment to pursue things like traveling, volunteering, learning new skills, spending more time with family, avoiding burnout, etc.

A sabbatical is a temporary period, usually 3 to 12 months, you take off from work with the aim to return to your career at the end of it. We are talking about a sabbatical as a company policy for taking time off while freezing your employment at the company. The aim of it does not have to be about traveling, but also about learning a new skill, volunteering, spending more time with family, avoiding burnout, etc.

All in all does not look like there is too much of a difference between the 2 terms. At the end of the day, both versions of time off from work come down to a person needing or wanting a change.

A few example reasons to take that decision

If you are waking up tired and uninspired you need to re-evaluate how you are spending your time. The same goes if you feel a longer period of your life has been going to all work and no play, meaning you are missing out on your personal life.

Doubts about if your current career is the path you actually want to pursue can be easily put to rest with taking some time off to evaluate your options.

Merging work and study can be a handful and therefore taking time to dedicate it for a more focused learning time could be a great way to elevate the level of knowledge you get.

Your health is showing signs of suffering. By referring to health, we are talking about both mental and physical health. It could be experiencing feeling anxious or dreading the next day, having headaches, fatigue, insomnia, etc.

You find yourself questioning the norms like who says that we must work until retirement and only then take a break.

What am I doing?

I myself have currently opted to go for a hybrid version, meaning I left my employment, but at the end of my time off I am not looking to continue my career exactly the same spot where I was cut off.

My reason for leaving my employment was to put a focus on my health and well-being. After working in a very high-stress environment I started to see in myself signs of burnout. Looking out for other people's needs I had lost my own.

I realized I was doing high-intensity 10 to 12-hour workdays and my work-life was centered around hustle, not alignment. Being in a state of anxiety and stress for month after month led me to have too many things in my life that were draining compared with things to count as fulfilling. A state of exhaustion, and at the same time experiencing stress-induced insomnia, was not how I had foreseen the second part of my 20s to look like. In the midst of working and studying hard, growing my network, earning money, saving up to do "adult" things, like buy a car and an apartment, I realized I was not actually experiencing much of it. At the end of the workweek, I was too exhausted to leave my home or to even interact with any of my friends. I had no energy to read or to expand my knowledge. Personal life or my own interest was a very unfamiliar topic for me, as there was just no energy left in me to think about anything else than the next workday. The trips I took were always over-shadowed by work topics - either people had work questions for me or I myself was struggling to turn off the thoughts. I started hating taking time off, as first 3 days I was struggling to let loose of work and then the rest of the time I was getting more stressed about the amount of work that will be waiting for me. All of this put together I started to feel more and more sad about being alienated from a balanced life.

I am taking my time off to:

(1) recharge myself;

(2) recreate for myself a new understanding of normality;

(3) expand my knowledge and work on my own interest;

(4)  inspire, and be inspired;

(5) build adventure and enjoyment into my career and personal life.

My aim for my time off will be to focus on rest, recovery, and reflection.

How to start this journey

First, destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful.

Secondly embrace that there is no "right time", as there is just time and what you choose to do with it. Self-care is a deliberate choice.

Thirdly, trust yourself. You will literally feel it when it's time to take that step. And feeling it does not mean you have to be broken and exhausted to shift course. Prevent it!

Fourth, determine if you want to (a) take time off to recharge your batteries and continue your dream job after (recommend taking a sabbatical if your company supports it) or (b) if you have reached your breaking point and going back to your current work-environment would not be an option of any kind (recommend taking a career break and cutting off ties to your current employment).

Fifth, before taking some rash decisions please make sure your finances support it. If this is not the case, start by saving up as much as you can. If you feel that you can't continue, look for financial support from family or consider free volunteering opportunities abroad. Do not forget to have an honest review of your lifestyle and expenses.

Sixth, do not over-romanticize it. Quitting your job is not going to magically give you energy and change your life. You will not be healed in a week or reach your goals in a flash. Most likely you will find difficulty in maintaining motivation, keeping discipline, and not panicking over your decreasing bank balance or making the lifestyle changes.

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears!

Read more on how to plan from Sabbatical Guide and Lifehacker.