The Sabbatical
Jenny and I are both calling this a sabbatical. Among our friends and family this idea of the sabbatical has grown more popular. I was first introduced to the modern sabbatical by my Pastor and good friend Scott Armstrong. Scott had decided to take a sabbatical last summer with his family for three months. In preparing for this sabbatical he listened to a TED talk by a gentleman named Stefan Sagmeister. Stefan is well known graphic designer and early in his career he introduced year-long sabbaticals into his life. Listen below:
Stefan's take on sabbaticals is very interesting. I doubt many of us could take an entire year off but the intent is clear. We need time to recharge and we have to careful not to let society and culture dictate our life rhythms. For Jenny and I we felt a month was something we could do reasonably and we were thankful we worked for organizations that supported this.
As we prepared for our travels, my food friend and mentor Gregg Burch helped us identify the core reasons for our travel. They are below:
- Develop a vision for our family.
- Practice healthy rhythms and discipline
- For me, I wanted to spend time sketching, journaling, and blogging
- Have deep conversations with Jenny
- Reduce my habit of distractions so I could be fully present
- Rest and Recharge
- Seek discernment on the next steps in my journey
- Have a shared experience of beauty of Scotland with Jenny
- Deepen and strengthen our marriage
For both of us, we want to come back from this time with a renewed sense of purpose, a family mission statement, and a vision for next steps. It will be exciting to review these goals at the end to see where we landed.