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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Tabitha on November 11, 2003, at 2:04:10
I've been on job sabbatical 3 months now. My plan was to reconsider after 3 months. I think I want to find another job, save up money, then quit again someday. I may try contract work so the sabbaticals are sort of built-in.
I felt really good for about a month, then felt pretty lethargic and unproductive for a couple months, and now am starting to get energized and productive again (maybe because the time period is up). Overall I think it was really nice having this time-- even the lethargic part. Although I always feel like I have a lot of alone time, I've never been free of obligations for so long, and alone so much. Though it wasn't always pleasant I think it was nurturing in some way. I feel more solid somehow, in my sense of identity, and more hopeful about the future.
I hope I'll be able to hang onto this once I get back into the daily stress of working, but that remains to be seen. At least I can look forward to taking another long break someday.
Posted by Destroyo on November 11, 2003, at 3:05:36
In reply to Sabbatical officially over, posted by Tabitha on November 11, 2003, at 2:04:10
Best of luck in rejoining the working world. It's a jungle out there. Corporate America seems to have abandoned all scruples as far as the treatment of workers goes. As you know, the stressful and humiliating scenarios of Scott Adams in the comic strip "Dilbert" are usually not ficticious; they're drawn from real life correspondence with his readers. As the old saying goes, "you can't make this stuff up!"
Did you ever see that cheesy, campy, funny Sci-Fi movie, "They Live"? In the movie, if true humans wear special eyeglasses, they can pierce the veil of illusion with which the alien invaders have enveloped The Earth and see the aliens as they really are: rotting, decomposed spectres. And most presciently for a 1988 movie, with the special specs one can see the hidden epithet emblazoned upon the American paper currency issued by by the alien / human oligarchic cooperative clandestine regime:
"THIS IS YOUR GOD"
Posted by Dinah on November 11, 2003, at 6:26:38
In reply to Sabbatical officially over, posted by Tabitha on November 11, 2003, at 2:04:10
That sounds like a good plan, Tabitha. And wasn't that the purpose of the sabbatical? To be able to step back and consider what you want to do without having the tether of a currently unsatisfactory but still secure job weighing on your decision making process?
Good luck with your career goals. Keep us posted. :)
Posted by Tabitha on November 11, 2003, at 16:30:22
In reply to Re: Sabbatical officially over » Tabitha, posted by Dinah on November 11, 2003, at 6:26:38
Thanks. Several people expressed disappointment with me for not doing something more dramatic during the time off-- like travel the world, or get an insight about a radical career change (follow my passion type of thing). Even my therapist got disgusted with me for not making better use of my time. I had to make an argument to her that I needed to experience total laziness, sort of take it to completion-- and she seemed to buy it. Who knows-- maybe it was true.
I'm glad I'm actually feeling like the experiment was a success. For a while there it seemed like a failure, because I didn't feel good for a long time. Maybe this will change too. Maybe success is just making up a reasonable story to explain yourself, and being halfway convinced of it.
One definite insight-- the most depressing mental state of all is feeling no hope for the future, and having no faith in my ability to change. At some point my hope/faith kicked in, and it was like night and day. I can't believe I survived as long as I did without it. Maybe it will disappear again, I don't know.
This is the end of the thread.
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