The underused sabbatical might be the needed solution to burnout

My career’s end was approaching and I had no idea. I should have known given the circumstances. My emotions were all over the place. My eyes were sunken from troubled nights in bed, spent waking up in sweats from fevered dreams.

The weight of years of stress had finally caught up to me. Where there’d once been a burning fire to succeed and thrive, there was now a roiling cloud of dread hanging over me each morning. The endless meetings, unrealistic deadlines, and perpetual pressure to perform were too much to handle.

I’d become irritable and distant with people in my life. I zoned out during conversations, worrying about some imminent fire to put out at the office, or worrying about bad news I needed to deliver to my boss.

Was this really the life I was supposed to live. Shortly thereafter, I quit my job on a whim, and eventually pursued writing full-time. Months later, the sun was shining. I heard birds chirping and enjoyed my breakfast. My mornings became peaceful rituals, rather than foggy races to eat, brush my teeth, and get out the door.

I’d forgotten what it was like to be happy — and what life was like before all of this suffocating pressure fell on top of me. I sometimes wonder if I’d taken a sabbatical maybe things would have turned out different. For the record, I’m glad they didn’t. I love being a writer. But I know many people are miserable at their jobs, and that they once loved their careers at another stage of life. But as we know, too much of a good thing will ruin it, including a good job.

I’ve rarely seen the prospects of a sabbatical discussed, which is a real and underused option for many workers. Could it be the solution, the breath of life that so many need?

Countering burnout

Per author, Jonathan Malesic, author of The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives, “You can’t rest your way out of burnout, because burnout is about the relationship between your ideals for work and the reality of your job. If you don’t change anything about the way you work, you’re going to be in the same miserable condition again.”

At my aforementioned company, there was a well-known employee, Rick, who was only 33 years old. He was a director of estimating and had skyrocketed through the ranks after finishing college. He also graduated valedictorian of his MBA class while working. He always seemed happy — which is why I was surprised when a coworker said, “Don’t send that email to Rick. He’s going to be gone for three months.”

I asked his brother, who also worked there and he said, with some sadness, “Yes, he’s been standing too close to the sun for too long. He’s going to do some soul searching.”

And this company wasn’t one that did sabbaticals that often. They’d clearly valued Rick and gone out of their way to give him this option.

Rick took the three months off, and another worker took his place temporarily — though we wondered if Rick would ever come back. Rick did come back, but only stayed for another month. He left his high paying job and became an independent mortgage broker. Though he may not make quite as much as he did in corporate, he loves his new life and is thriving.

Many organizations already include sabbaticals and most don’t know it. At my spouse’s university, they have sabbaticals built into their system — but typically have some type of assignment during it. You may go off to write a book on your own terms, away from teaching classes and generating grants. You are still working and being paid — but given a chance to explore some other aspects of your job and add more value.

Sometimes that sabbatical gives you needed healing time. It allows you to reconnect with your family, to repair a strained relationship, and come back to your job fully charged.

Companies stand to benefit as well. An HR Trends survey showed that 65% of employees were suffering from burnout, which led to unplanned time off by workers and resulted in $47.6 billion annually in lost productivity.

Taking a sabbatical is shown to provide enormous benefits to our mental health. Per a study by the Harvard Business Review, led by researchers Kira Schabram and Matt Bloom, sabbaticals can boost mental wellbeing and also improve performance in the long run. Even further, companies stand to benefit by offering them under the right circumstances.

People should also consider the frequency of sabbaticals. Some research shows that the benefits of taking one eventually fade, so you should either take steps in the intervening time to manage your workload, develop a new plan going forward, or plan periods of time off from work to help manage that stress in the future. Don’t just treat a sabbatical as a vacation. Do some needed soul searching.

Not everyone will get it

Prior generations may not understand the potential of a sabbatical. My dad worked 60+ hour weeks for many years on end, which I still struggle to comprehend. I feel like I never saw him when I was growing up. But he was passionate about what he did. He might scoff at this idea of a sabbatical — but that wouldn’t mean he’s right.

But perhaps these more conservative outlooks would appreciate the origins of the sabbatical, which has its ties to the Old Testament and the concept of the “sabbatical year”, which was a year long period when Jews left fields untilled and all farming was suspended, which would lead to the forgiving of all debts. More broadly, periods of rest are embedded in religious traditions for good reason: burnout has transcended history. Without rest, we are fundamentally changed for the worst.

For example, when I was severely burnt out and overworked, I noticed the most basic things began to require more work. Interacting with friends, making phone calls, planning dates, all felt like a huge boulder to carry. Work had left me depleted and in a husk of myself when it was time to do other things.

The thing to remember

Your mental health and wellbeing are important, especially as we aren’t on this planet for a long time.

Consider your legacy. Author, Bronnie Ware, spent time with elderly people, most of whom were sick and in their last three to twelve weeks of their lives, and documented their most common regrets. She said the most common was, “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

A sabbatical could give you time to reexamine what your goals are, and if this fevered pace you maintain is honoring those goals or someone else’s. If you are, great. But at least ask the question, to give you some peace of mind in knowing you explored your purpose before it’s too late.

There’s no exact time frame for how long a sabbatical should be, though most are longer than a month. Another option is a mini-sabbatical, which might be more palatable to your employer (they typically last 4–14 days). These mini-sabbaticals are shown to have many of the same benefits to wellbeing and productivity.

At a minimum, perhaps it’s time to examine how hard you are working and reeling in some of that time in a deliberate way. Taking time away from the office changed my life in a dramatic way. My hope is that the right people see this and find the same result. Just make sure to use that time with intention, and ask yourself questions and explore what you really want in life.