There's most definitely nothing better than turning to toast on a quiet beach
There's most definitely nothing better than turning to toast on a quiet beach as the sea breeze shakes salt onto your skin or lie back and look at the stars on some cold mountain, whichever landscape appeals to you more.
Make that indefinite bliss if a computer screen doesn't flash before your eyes a week or even two after your glorious holiday. That's what sabbaticals are meant to be reminders of what life could be without the drag of a job.
"Our generation's work/lifestyle tends to burn us out more than say our parents' generation," says Delhi-based writer Ameta Bal, 30 who has been on a sabbatical since this July. Since then she's been on two trips to Hong Kong and Dharamshalau00a0 learnt to cook and de-stress.
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Ameta Bal at a village near Hong Kong |
Professionals suggest stashing away savings to last at least a year before planning a sabbatical, even if it's as short as a one-month stint because of the unpredictability of the job market and the risks involved in taking a break.
"Take a sabbatical or you'll end up getting stuck and wonder whether this is what you've wanted to do all your life," says 24-year-old Mumbai-based freelance photographer Utkarsh Sajanwala, who recently took a break from a full-time job at a magazine.
Utkarsh, who took on a few photo assignments in the past wasn't sure if he would turn photography into a profession until he "was bumming around with his friends in Delhi and picked up a new camera." "It wasn't planned at all. In fact I didn't know what was coming up next," says Utkarsh. Of course there are downsides.
Ameta points out, "Your peers start dismissing you, don't take you seriously and even take you for granted because you aren't working," she says, "And I do miss taking home that pay cheque every month."u00a0 One word of advice that everybody has is to take a sabbatical before you hit breaking point, instead of collapsing just when you're on the brink of one.u00a0
