Tips for At-Home Mini-Sabbaticals

If you have been reading my blog over the past year, you may remember the post “The Fruits of Mini-Sabbaticals” that I wrote in November 2022 to share my approach to the 4 Rs (rest, rejuvenation, reflection, resetting).

I was all set to head to Hawaii last month and I had to cancel the trip. Instead of giving up on the idea of a mini-sabbatical, I redesigned the week to capture the same intention at home. There are certain activities that I incorporate in my annual mini-sabbatical and I wanted to maintain as many of those as possible. I thought I would share my approach to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve much of the same outcome without the expense and effort of traveling.

    1. REMOVE yourself from your daily work routine. That means set the “out of office” reply, stating that you are on a personal retreat/mini-sabbatical. Keep the computer off unless you are using it for something creative, but definitely no email, and leave your office setting.
    2. REST. That means no alarm clock, get up when your body tells you, stay in bed if that feels right, take a nap.
    3. REJUVENATE. What brings you energy? Incorporate that into your mini-sabbatical routine. For me that is going to the gym during non-busy hours, hiking, doing yoga, scheduling a spa day/massage, and visiting the local botanical garden conservatory. 
    4. REFLECTION. Each year, I decide what I want to focus on during this break, whether it is reading a book, designing a new program or deepening my learning of a subject. I also use this time for extended journal writing.
    5. RESETTING. I have used the “End of Year Reset Worksheet” process
      from ThirdSpaceStudio.com to look back on the year and look forward to the next year with intention. I also do the initial year-end financial review and preliminary budgeting and business planning for the next year.

Although I wasn’t able to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean, I came away from my At-Home Mini-Sabbatical feeling refreshed, focused and energized to finish up 2023 with clarity and optimism to move into 2024!