5 Things I Learned During My Year-Long Sabbatical

In 2021, I had the opportunity to step back from paid work. It gave me the time I needed to reflect on many aspects of working and life in general that I want to share. Up to now, my writing has never been personal. I am ready to change that, because one of the most important lessons I learned is that we are far more than our working lives.

1.     Work isn’t as important as we think it is.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am still passionate about fixing our messed-up food system. But not working made me realize that my individual contributions really don’t matter as much I thought they did. It’s so easy to get caught up in the mission and create a sense of urgency and self-importance to the work.

 The reality is that the current economic system is so vast and complicated that what we can do as individuals, or even as organizations or companies, is rather limited. I don’t say this to discourage activism or mean that we should give up. I am saying it’s healthy to eat a big piece of humble pie and not take ourselves too seriously or put so much pressure on ourselves to “save the planet” or the animals or whatever our cause may be.

I sure did not miss the pressure to respond to emails, phone calls, and texts. I also took social media off my phone and am never putting it back. I started writing again, but now I can write just for myself and not because I “should”.

 Disconnecting from paying work also forced me to realize that my identity need not be tied to my day job. Think about it: who would you be if you were not working? It’s a powerful way to realize what’s truly important in life.

2.     Talk about balance and self-care is only scratching the surface.

All the current talk of self-care and the need to balance work and home life is ridiculously understated. I didn’t realize how much down time I needed until I took it. Then I couldn’t get enough of it. I read two books called “Do Nothing”. That our society even needs not one but two books on how to do nothing is telling. The glorification of being busy all the time needs to stop. It’s killing us.

3.     Traveling is highly overrated.

Of course, the pandemic made us all realize how much we really don’t need to be flying all over the place. Travel is exhausting, stressful, and not a healthy way to live. After every trip I always felt like I had to work harder to “get back” to my healthy lifestyle. I may never travel again for work if I can avoid it.

4.     Reading books is highly underrated.

When I was working full-time, I was too tired to read books, even if I had the time. I was lucky if I could focus on a magazine article. To have the time and mental energy to read as many books as I wanted was a great reminder of how much I used to love to read, and want to make sure I keep doing it. (More on my reading list later; mostly on sexism, racism, transitions, and spirituality.)

5.     How we do the work matters more than the work itself.

I spent a lot of time speaking with friends and colleagues about their working lives and how they have been muddling through. The most striking theme I heard was that women are hurting. The pandemic seems to have exacerbated some of the worst qualities in people at work, including outright psychological abuse. The result has been a lot of workplace mental health challenges, with some women feeling traumatized and defeated.

This is an area that I have been doing a lot of research on, and that I will be writing more about. I have come to the conclusion that how we treat each other matters more than the cause itself. What is the point of saving a planet where people (mostly women) feel exploited and abused, and mentally and physically drained? The ends certainly do not justify the means. It’s time the vegan movement and plant-based foods sector start having these difficult conversations.

I realize that it is with great privilege that I was able to step back from paid work for a year, but if you have an opportunity to take a significant amount of time off, I highly recommend it. You won’t regret it, I promise.

As I come back into the working world, I plan to maintain many of my healthy habits of self-care, including meditation, listening to my body when it tells me I need to rest, saying no to what does not nourish me, and so much more.

Because if we don’t take care of ourselves, nothing else really matters.