In November, I wrote a post about sabbaticals and I can report – the average Mel can afford to take a Sabbatical – as of right now.

The return to the rat race is considerably more unclear than when I left the job in December.

I also wound up with a tons and tons of extra financial help because unfortunately the Mom I left work to spend more time with passed away a week into being home. As far as that affects my brother and I though, she had a life insurance policy that we were the beneficiaries on.

As far as Sabbatical math goes, I’m actually still in the green as of this moment before the insurance check clears and still have enough saved up to do at least two more months with no budget cutbacks or probably somewhere between 4-6 more months if I did scale back my budget.

The Sabbatical has taken an interesting turn since I don’t plan to return to my old job anymore. A new general management company took full control since I left and cleared house with management. I escaped that axe since I wasn’t there at the time, but every report from folks still at work is that it’s a miserable and sometimes dangerous place to be.

So I’m gonna pass on that.

Which I guess pivots this from a Sabbatical to unemployment.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When I finally made the leap and gave notice that I wasn’t returning, my first action was to RSVP to an old friend’s wedding that is a week after I was scheduled to be back at work in June.

My second move was to give my best friends I went to Iceland with last year the green light that we could go somewhere on vacation this summer.

So the Sabbatical’s end date is tentatively after that trip. Hopefully. Assuming I find a job.

Financial things that made this Sabbatical very possible:

• The high paying job I had for the last year and a half where I pretty much just banked money.
• No debt.
• The $5,000 I saved up just as spending money.
• Living at my parents’ house for free.
• The small side jobs I’ve been taking over the last few months.
• My other savings that is totally earmarked for other goals, but if I had botched this wildly, I could’ve dipped into those buckets.

And how did 5 months without working go? Well, I actually have worked some:

• One 4 week stage management gig in Milwaukee.
• Assorted random days as a stagehand at Stockton University.
• Assorted random days as a stagehand at Avenel Performing Arts Center.
• One strange day as a photographer’s PA.
• A weekend one-off gig for Big Apple.
• And, of course, blogging.

But burnout isn’t really a numbers game. It’s an emotional and physical exhaustion that’s nothing like a game.

So how’s that going?

The family stress is clearly different. I had read a lot about anticipatory grief after my mom got sick (I’m definitely one of those people who think if I just Google enough and have enough information, I can somehow make things better – not always true).

So I would actually say I have no family stress right now, just unexpected and drowning waves of grief.

Google tells me this is normal. So there’s that.

And work-wise, I had read an article that says it takes about 4 months on average to recover from job related burnout and that was weirdly accurate.

I did stay pretty busy at the beginning of 2019 with the Milwaukee job and then what I called the Great Grief Tour of 2019 where I just tried to keep moving and traveling and seeing friends.

The end of the Great Grief Tour was surprisingly upsetting.

However, I realized around the first week of May that I actually felt like myself again and that I wanted to go back to work.

Because of some of the family and friend plans, the returning to work thing is still on hold a little longer, but I’m sort of chomping at the bit to be doing something and to be making money instead of just spending it.

…which isn’t 100% accurate but totally how it feels these days.

Things I have loved about the Sabbatical:

• All the traveling!
• All the family!
• All the friends!
• I watched every episode of Game of Thrones with friends as it aired!
• I knocked two more Accounting classes off the list for my degree!
• I do whatever I want a lot of days.
• I went on so many dates. They were not good. But I was able to go.
• I have been to church fairly regularly.
• It wasn’t a struggle to go to the dentist.
• I was able to volunteer to host a baby shower.
• I can make plans to meet up with people at normal after work and weekend hours.

So the next big Sabbatical step is figuring out what I’m going to do next and starting a job search.

I feel like in the past when I’ve been between jobs, I got plenty of offers when I’m working somewhere, but when I’m not working anywhere and start looking, everything dries up for a little while.

So that’ll be fun.

Overall, the only thing I regret about the Sabbatical is that I didn’t start it in the fall and get to spend more time with my mom.

So, go hug your parents, and then get your finances in order so you too can disappear from the rat race for a few months if you ever want to.