Career Sabbaticals: Why Time Off Can Change Everything
If you’re exhausted, stuck, and quietly terrified of continuing down this path for another 10–20 years, a career sabbatical may be the reset you’re looking for.
It’s not just about travel or time away. It’s about creating enough space to see what you can’t see when you’re deep inside your day-to-day life.
The Power of Career Sabbaticals
The way I think about sabbaticals is this: you know that feeling when you’re struggling to solve a problem, you’re stuck at your desk, you’re grinding away, your head is spinning—and yet nothing is clicking?
Then you step away. You take a shower. You walk outside. You go to the kitchen.
And suddenly, the answer comes to you.
That’s a career sabbatical—times ten.
We make fundamentally different choices and see better opportunities when we’re coming from rest, relaxation, and spaciousness versus anxiety and constant busyness.
You start to see different possibilities.
That space isn’t just about rest—it’s often the bridge between where you are and what comes next, even if you can’t see it yet.
I credit the sabbatical I took over ten years ago as the unlock for my career change.
Many times before that, I tried to leave corporate—jumping out, jumping back in, dipping a toe out, then jumping back in again.
It was my career sabbatical that finally gave me the space to uncover my future path as a career coach and business owner, and to truly leave corporate and begin the rest of my life.
But I didn’t know any of that before I went on sabbatical.
Your Sabbatical Is Your Sabbatical
The first thing I want to share is this: your sabbatical is your sabbatical.
I want you to feel empowered to set any goal for your career sabbatical, including no goal at all.
When people found out about my sabbatical, they’d get excited and ask things like:
“Are you going to teach English as a second language?”
“Are you going to swim with the dolphins?”
“Are you going to write a book?”
But inside, I was dying.
Because the honest answer was: “No. I just want to sleep. I don’t have the energy for any of that.”
If you have the energy and desire to do big things on your sabbatical—great. Do them.
But so many people who come into coaching are burned out.
If that’s you, please don’t put additional pressure on yourself to learn a new skill, take a class, or reinvent yourself during your time off.
If those things genuinely recharge you, amazing.
But I think the most misunderstood benefit of a career sabbatical is this: You don’t actually need a goal at all.
The Power of Doing Nothing
There’s a TED Talk I love by Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off.
Every seven years, he shuts down his entire design studio for a full year.
Everyone leaves. The business pauses completely.
One year they went to Bali. There were no meetings. No creative sessions. No business development.
The result?
That year of “doing nothing” fueled the next seven years of design work.
The ideas and breakthroughs came not from effort, but from observing, living, and simply being—in a completely different environment than New York City.
This is one of the most overlooked benefits of a career sabbatical: there is real power in not having a stated objective driving you.
What if your only goal were allowing yourself to recharge?
I invite you to imagine what that would look like for you—especially if you’re already running on empty.
That was absolutely true for me. I did technically have one goal: I wanted to learn to like beer.
Partial fail. I only like IPAs.
The Cost of Proving Yourself Instead of Pausing
I came to the idea of a sabbatical after getting promoted.
It took a huge amount of work to earn that promotion, and by the time I got it, I was already exhausted.
But because I had been promoted, I wanted to prove myself at that level.
So I went to my boss and said:
“I want a sabbatical. Give me a year. I’ll deliver on this agenda, crush these goals, and then I want to take time off.”
To his credit, my boss said, “Go now.”
But I wanted to deliver.
And I did. I crushed those goals.
And it pushed me even deeper into burnout.
By the time I actually went on my sabbatical, I had nothing left.
What’s interesting is that I remember none of those goals now. There’s no legacy I can point to. No meaningful remnant of that work.
Something to sit with if that’s what’s keeping you stuck.
“But My Team Depends on Me”
One of the biggest concerns I hear is, “I play a crucial role. People depend on me. I don’t want to let them down.”
Considering how your absence will impact your team and colleagues is real.
But I invite you to also consider how your absence might present opportunities for them to step up.
The Importance of a Trial Run
We decided to do a trial run, and I’m so glad we did.
Early in the year—around January or February—I went to Thailand and Cambodia for about three weeks.
We treated that as a test run:
What would break?
What would work?
Who would step up?
Things didn’t go perfectly.
And that was actually the point.
We then had about six weeks to fix processes, shift responsibilities, and make changes so that I could truly let go during my full career sabbatical.
It gave my team more visibility and a safe space to stumble.
But it also showed me how much of my exhaustion came from constantly running cover.
What I Did on My Sabbatical
My official career sabbatical included time in Hawaii (the Big Island and Maui), driving part of the Pacific Coast Highway, visiting the Grand Canyon, and just hanging out in New York.
And honestly?
I slept. A lot.
I remember being in these beautiful locations yet not leaving the hotel—just ordering room service, watching shows on my iPad, and sleeping.
At the time, I felt a bit guilty that I wasn’t “doing more.”
Now I’m incredibly grateful. Because it was exactly what I needed.
And I honestly wonder if I would have found the answers I did if I had filled every moment with activity.
The Power of Stepping Away
My boss and I arranged things so that I would return to my old role after my sabbatical while I figured out my next move internally.
This was a great decision, because despite having almost a year away from work, I still didn’t feel fully re-energized…and I definitely didn’t feel clear.
Yet a week or so before returning to work, I thought, “this coaching thing sounds interesting.”
I googled coaching certifications and impulse-enrolled in the first program I found.
There was no long plan. No years of research.
The idea didn’t exist before my career sabbatical. And then one day it did.
It emerged because I finally had space.
To be clear, I still didn’t know I would become a coach at that point. I just thought coaching might be a new skill to explore.
It was a spark of clarity, not a blinding flash.
“What About Résumé Gaps?”
One of the most common questions I hear is: “What does a work break mean for my résumé?”
My honest answer: don’t worry about résumé gaps.
A month-long sabbatical is essentially a vacation. Even a year or two is a blip in a decades-long career.
No employer you actually want to work for is going to challenge you for taking a career break in the course of a 40-year career.
And if they ask, it’s usually out of genuine curiosity and excitement. People love hearing about sabbaticals.
Instead of worrying about a “gap,” remember: Your sabbatical is going to reveal things. You’ll learn things about yourself and the world. You’ll gain clarity and insights. Whatever happens, you’ll have a story.
And there are people like me who are very good at helping you tell that story.
Salary, Benefits, and Leave Options
If your organization already has a sabbatical policy, start there.
Many policies offer around six weeks, which you can often extend creatively.
In addition, more and more organizations are seeing career sabbaticals as a way to retain and reward valued employees. So ask for that time; you’ve earned it.
Most places would much rather give you time than pay you more. ;)
I encourage you to work with them and get creative.
In my case, we cobbled together vacation time, formal leave options, and a short unpaid period.
As I mentioned, we figured out how to give me an almost-full-year break with pay that benefited everyone.
I kept my benefits for most of the time, and for a brief window, I used COBRA to maintain health insurance continuity. (For US employees, COBRA is essentially an extension of your health insurance, but you also pick up the part your employer typically pays.) For me, this additional expense was worth it.
What Career Sabbatical Questions Do You Have?
When it comes to sabbaticals, hopefully you’re seeing that there’s a shape and size for everyone.
I shared my journey in case it sparks ideas for you. But I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all rules—the value comes from designing a break that fits your life, your energy, and what you actually want and need.
I’d love to hear any questions you still have, whether that’s how to structure your sabbatical, how to think about timing, or how to approach the conversation with your boss.
And if you’re interested in bringing that same sense of energy and expansiveness into your career—with or without a career sabbatical—check out my 6-week program: Design a Career You Love.
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Author Bio:
Before becoming a coach, Caroline worked in management consulting and financial services. She's made it her mission to help people grow, contribute, and get wherever they want to go.
She’s also a tennis fanatic, aspiring Minimalist, FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early) enthusiast, and Aloha Spirit seeker 🤙. She loves to share stories from her unconventional life and career focused on freedom, creativity, fun, health, family, and community. If she can do it, you can, too.
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