🌊 Issue #12: 247 Days til the Grand Sabbatical more or less
Or 247 days until I have an absolute meltdown or the most exciting part of my life
Hola friends!
The last time I wrote here was a year ago. In my last post, I wrote about how I was just coming out of burnout. Big Ha! A year later, I’m realizing I never really left. There were moments of respite. But the unraveling never really stopped — it just kind of slowed down.
So here we are writing here again. Because I needed the space to just throw up my feelings, without the need for grand realizations or big lessons learned (You can take the girl out of Livejournal, but you can’t take Livejournal out of the girl). And I sure as hell needed a space that had nothing to do with Product Management and/or Leadership.
A year ago, I wanted to go on a Sabbatical.
I put it on pause because cool things were happening in my career:
I got the role I didn’t think I wanted. And along with it came visibility and money.
I started speaking at conferences again and I felt like I wouldn’t have the credibility to talk about what I wanted to talk about if I was unemployed.
I wanted to bring back my coaching. And I felt the need to be a practicing product leader if I wanted to effectively coach on the same theme.
A year later, I’m thinking of going on a Sabbatical again.
Not because I’m not happy with the things that are happening with my career. In fact, I’m over the moon. But the exhaustion is just… undeniable at this point.
One of the girls on my team went on an unpaid Sabbatical a few months ago. 6 months of uncertainty interlaced with adventure and testing one’s resolve. Or maybe I should say 6 months of self-discovery and care interlaced with uncertainty.
Is it crazy if I said that it was the bravest thing I’ve seen anybody do in a long time?
So I’m going for it. I’m going for a Sabbatical I mean.
And this time I’m not just saying it. I will honest-to-goodness, really do it. I even put a placeholder on my calendar already. April 1.
The exact date is an estimate. But I’m aiming to be on a break by Q2 2024. Minimum 6 months.
Which gives me a few months to save up for it. I’m not brave enough to share exact numbers yet. But let me just say that my finances are not exactly in the same state as my boyfriend’s when he decided to quit his job for a few years in favor of doing a start-up back in 2019. He had more money. And yet he still complained.
But money is only money. I will not subject myself to a scarcity mindset and choose to believe that the universe will provide.
And I will, instead, worry about a more existential dilemma…
What in the world will I do during those months?
I do have a rough plan. But the possibilities are endless. And I’m giddy with excitement and absolute terror. I will share the plan later (I do need to have content).
But for now, this is me chronicling the days leading up to my Sabbatical. Both to hold myself accountable and to also regulate my nervous system.
247 days!
That is not a lot of days left if you think about it. Less than a year. 2.5 quarters. 8-ish months.
And I still have so many things to do to prepare for it.
Tell my boss, for one.
Prepare my team for this.
Beef up my finances a bit more.
But by George, I am excited.
Until next time 💗
K
p.s.
I have fever dreams that if I write enough here, somebody would find my rambling adorable and sponsor my newsletter. How do I make that a reality? 😱
Other Things I’m loving these days 💗
This this hilarious hiking with a hint of romcom vibes story by
cemented that position for hiking in my top 10 minus the disaster. 😅Speaking of hiking, I’ve been following
chronicles of his own hike through with his wife, Kirsten Hege. If they can do it, I can too!I’ve never been into sports. But everytime Filipina team qualifies and/or WIN any sporting event - I turn into a sports nut at least for the next couple of days. The Philippines’ Women’s Football team beat New Zealand this week and is set to play against Norway next! 😱 🇵ðŸ‡
Obviously hiking and sports are in my Sabbatical to-do list. Ok. Maybe just hiking. And only the baby ones.
Any thoughts and feelings on Twitter’s rebranding? Mine’s this 👇
I started this maybe-weekly except it’s not) newsletter because I needed a space where I can just take a break from talking about career, working in tech, and coaching other Product Managers. I needed a space where I can wear my heart on my sleeve, get kilig about the books I’m reading and the movies I’m watching, and sometimes allow myself to get on my soapbox and yell at the world for doing something stupid again.
Want to share your thoughts and feelings, too? Leave me a comment below 👇
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