A Radical Sabbatical survival guide

 

I posted this on LinkedIn and Medium last week and boy did it go crazy. As of now, it has almost 235 ,000 views, 993 comments, 375 shares and 2,800 likes. It’s also spawned tons of LInkedIn, Facebook and Twitter messages. It’s been kind of crazy. Here it is, again, organized with some of my other Gap Year observances.

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When I announced in late 2014 that I was leaving my job as managing editor/vice president of the Chicago Tribune to take a career break, reactions were varied: confusion, suspicion, horror and grudging respect. Close friends were happy for me; others no doubt thought I was crazy.

But the thing people said most frequently, at least to my face, was: “Wow, I wish I could do that.” My response? “You actually can.” And I still do respond that way. Because 13 months later, I look back and am happy with my decision. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Before I go further, I must acknowledge that yes, I know that I am incredibly fortunate. A career break is a First World luxury that many people can only dream of because they work hard to barely scrape by. I never cease to be grateful for the hand I’ve been dealt in a world that is unfair and unjust in so many ways. I always strive to build on the opportunities and gifts given to me and to give something back in return.

Before leaving my job, I did a few things to prepare that I believe have made all the difference. They involved planning, lots of planning and a few extra plans. I wanted to go into my career break with a purpose and leave it a better person.

In hindsight, these were the most important steps I took:

Know thyself

Don’t leave in haste or in anger. I thought about this move for a long time, and I was confident I was making the decision for the right reasons.

If you’re a worrier who can’t handle uncertainty or risk, then this won’t be a very comfortable thing for you. But you can still do it. Just try to anticipate how you’ll react—you know yourself best– and set up things to inoculate yourself against doubt. I’m not a risk-averse person, but I still prepped on this front.

Before I left my job, I wrote down the reasons why it was time for me to move on from a job and a company that I absolutely loved and for which I still feel a great deal of loyalty. I’ve kept that document on my laptop in case I was ever struck with a case of regret. I’ve never opened it. But it’s comforting to know it’s there.

Because a few months after you leave a job, a fuzzy cloud emerges that obscures the sharp edges of your work memories. The danger is that you become wistful and regret what you did. But pop open that Word doc. See? You did have good reasons for your decision. You even wrote them down.

I also kept all the nice notes, tweets and messages people sent me when I left, all for future consultation if needed.

Financial planning

Besides a bit of emotional planning like what I described above, I planned for this move financially. If you’re not prescient enough to have saved your whole life for a gap year, then at least save during the months or years leading up to it.

Financial experts say it’s smart to have six months of your current salary saved in case you lose your job. I used mine during my break. I also made sure to clear all the debt I could. I felt more confident going into this break without a bunch of heavy debts breathing down my neck.

Finally, don’t forget to factor in health insurance. It’s expensive when you have to pay for it all yourself. Very expensive.

I frequently remind myself that the goal of a career is not simply to acquire a pile of money to collapse and die on at the end. At least that’s not my goal. So I’ve spent some of the money I saved without guilt.

Goals and lists

I wrote down a long list of things I wanted to accomplish on my break. Some was specific (learn to code), some was more vague (say yes to every invitation). I wanted my break to be purposeful. I wanted to recharge my creative batteries and pick up new skills, perspectives and friends.

That list has lived on my laptop all year, and I’ve crossed off things as I finished them. Naps and binge watching TV were also on the list. I’m no saint.

I put myself out there and met new people. I had drinks, coffees, lunches and dinners with so many people– old friends and new. I said yes to every invitation, whether I knew the person or not, and got back to the people who’d told me “we should get together ” in my last days at work.

I’ve especially enjoyed hanging out with former work colleagues without that whole “she’s my boss” tension hanging over the conversation.

Accountability

All of these lists play an important role. I knew that if I told myself and others what I planned to accomplish, then I’d be more likely to do it. Even my 2015 Christmas letter served as a sort of final report on my break.

I also made a Break Resume. I was so busy living life and gobbling up experiences that I started to forget all I’d done. So I’ve been keeping a running tally in resume form. For whom? Who knows. Myself, I guess.

Did it work?

Yes. I’ve had the best time. This year I’ve been able to indulge my rabid curiosity, learn new things, travel to new places and follow my own agenda for 13 months. I’ve thrown myself into my break like it was my job. I’ve hungrily collected experiences, big and small.

I’ve traveled around the U.S. and abroad. My husband and I lived in Paris for five weeks just to see what it was like (it was marvelous) and hosted friends and family in our rental apartments there.

I’ve learned so much this year. Like how to make ramen noodles from scratch and how to write basic computer code. I took improv classes at The Second City and built a web site for my hobby record label (sweetpearecords.net).

I’ve volunteered –- a lot. For various boards, my neighborhood elementary school and for an agency that sends books to women in prison. I gardened and arranged for long-overdue improvements to our house. It’s been an epic year.

But we Americans live to work, it seems, and the question I hear most frequently now is: What’s your next job going to be?

Which brings me to my final point.

Know when it’s time to move on from your break

Recently, I started coming to the end of my lists, and I’ve started to feel ready to head back out there. So I plan to start looking for work, be it full-time, temporary or consulting work. I’m open to lots of things.

I think it says something that in America, we don’t have a widely accepted term for what I did this year. Sometimes I call it my Gap Year, the one I never took after college. Other times I call it my Radical Sabbatical, which makes people giggle. At my most introspective, I think of this as what I’d do if a doctor told me I had just one year to live.

Here’s to the great unknown in 2016. I’m going to try to make it as enlightening as 2015 was.

In fact, that’s now on the list.

 

 

Jane’s Top 10 things to do in Paris

Friends of mine get to live in Paris for a month in spring 2016. Lucky them!

They asked me for the best things I discovered in Paris during the month Michael and I lived there in spring 2015. Here’s what I came up with.

A couple of times you’ll see me reference the Marais and the Place des Vosges. That’s because that’s where their apartment will be.

1. Walk, walk and walk some more.

That’s how I discovered the best parts of Paris. My iPhone said I walked 180 miles that month; I walked like it was my job. Walking down all of those streets cemented the city map in my mind and left room for all the cheese I ate. Sometimes I walked to specific places; sometimes I meandered, got lost and then found myself on my iPhone map.

2. Walking tours

I took seven Paris Walks walking tours. They last two hours, weave in lots of French history, are run by native English speakers. Most cost just 8 euros and require no reservation. There are two tours of the Marais, both excellent. And both end at the Place des Vosges. (How convenient). These two Marais walks would be good ones to take at the beginning of your stay to orient yourself. I liked every single Paris Walk I took. You can peruse the list on their web site, http://www.paris-walks.com/. The chocolate tour was cool. I learned so much about chocolate, its history and how to buy it with confidence, though it’s so well-regulated in France that if it’s called “chocolate” it’s very unlikely to be bad.

3. Versailles

The palace of Versailles is magnificent and very worth the suburban train ride. There are long lines to visit the palace itself, which is a cool thing to see at least once in your life. But even more magnificent are the grounds. This last time, Michael and I didn’t even go into the palace. We let our guests go inside and we walked around the grounds for hours and hours. The Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s little fake farm are on the grounds and worth visiting. So be sure when you buy your ticket to buy the one that lets you into all of the palaces, not just the main one. If it’s too much for Noa to walk, there is a shuttle that looks like a little train that will drive you around.

 4. Buy advanced tickets

When you go to Versailles, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Musee D’Orsay, you simply must buy advanced tickets when possible. It allows you to use a special line at the entrance, bypassing the regular lines that can take an hour or more to stand in. The lines for the Eiffel Tower elevators and Louvre, especially, are heinous.  Also, take advantage of the museums’ evening hours when you can. They’re usually offered once a week and the crowds there at night are much smaller. As I mentioned to you at dinner, I was even able to see the Mona Lisa, something I’d never even tried before because of the insane crowds around it. Also, don’t accidentally go to one of these museums on their free day. Yikes.

5. Restaurants

I used the TripAdvisor app to find good restaurants near my apartment. There’s a map function that plots the restaurants near you, and I paid close attention to their ranking. There are 14,700-ish restaurants in Paris. I tried to stick to those ranked 1,000 or better. Prix fixe menus are usually the best deal, but force you to eat three courses, entree/plat/dessert. (You probably know this, but French entrees = American appetizers and French plats = American entrees.) It was hard for us to eat such rich food every day, so a lot of times Michael and I went to Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. I had some damn good Pho in the 3rd arrondissement.

6. Park sittin’

The thing I love to do best in Paris is sit and read in the park. My favorite has always been the Jardin du Luxembourg, but this last time I also spent a great deal of time in the Tuleries Gardens. Both offer free, comfortable and plentiful chairs. I’d bring a lunch, park myself and alternate reading a book and watching the people. The Tuileries Garden is a great place to sit and wait as your guests visit the Louvre, if you’ve already seen it and don’t want to go again. The Luxembourg Gardens has the cutest little restaurant where you can get an only-slightly overpriced coffee and sit in the shade. There is one bathroom in the Luxembourg Gardens, behind the restaurant and down some stairs. It costs a euro, and there’s often a line, but it’s good to know it’s there during a day at the park.

7. Beverages

* French hot chocolate: You’ll learn on the chocolate tour that chocolate was first brought to France by foreign queens who drank it. It’s like drinking liquid chocolate. Hot chocolate can be found on many menus, but usually it’s the milky American kind. If you want this special drink, you have to look for “chocolat a L’ancienne.” It’s so rich, they serve it with whipped cream to cut it. Ha! The best place I found for this kind of hot chocolate was at Angelina http://www.angelina-paris.fr/fr/. There’s more than one Angelina location, but I went to the one at the edge of the Luxembourg Gardens. I do recall many years ago getting a cup of this kind of hot chocolate at a restaurant on the edge of the Place des Vosges, so maybe you’ll find one during the explorations of your own neighborhood!

* Tea

I think you said you like tea. If so, I’d recommend Mariage Freres. The store in the Marais is half tea store half upscale, ladies-who-lunch-style tea room. It’s at 30 Rue du Bourg-Tibourg, in the Marais. The menu offers hundreds of teas, rare and otherwise. If you like the cup you were so carefully served, you can buy a tin at the counter on the way out. They don’t make you eat, but you can if you like.

8. Night boat tour

It may sound cheesy, but I loved the night boat tour on the Seine River. I learned so much about the history of Paris and found it to be a relaxing way to see a lot of the city. I think it lasted just an hour.

9. Rue Mouffetard

If you’re looking for one of those darling market streets with vendors from whom you can buy food for dinner, go to Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter. I’ve always loved the atmosphere here, the narrow Medieval streets, the bricks underfoot. One warning: They close up tight on certain days and at certain hours that I could never quite anticipate. To be safest, I’d go on a week day in the mid-morning, before lunch. If you want to eat at a restaurant over there, I’d recommend Cave La Bourgogne at the bottom of the hill (just a great, native French place for lunch or dinner) or Salle a Manger, also near the bottom of the hill. Here you can get breakfast or one of those fabulous salads the French eat for lunch.

10. Cooking class

One of the coolest, though most expensive, things I did was take a “market class” at a place in Montmartre called Cookin’ with Class. A super friendly English-speaking French chef took a group of six of us to the market, where he explained how to buy the best meat, fish, veggies, cheese, etc. We bought food to prepare and then adjourned to the classroom where together we cooked a three-course meal as we drank wine and ate cheese, and then ate the meal. He taught us many French cooking techniques. It was a unique and memorable experience that lasted about five hours.  Here’s the web site.  French Cooking Classes in Paris. I booked this a  couple weeks out because they don’t offer a ton of classes

All of this is a lot to consider, I know. Please let me know of any wonderful things you guys discover, so I can try them out the next time I am there. I’m so excited for you. I think Paris is one of the best places on earth!

Jane