Taking a 6 month sabbatical from work
 

It has been 17 years since I've had a real vacation and I'm burnt out. Since I left Silicon Valley in late 2001-early 2002 I have been on this never ending yo-yo of extreme highs and lows. At nearly 54 years old, I've faced a lot of self reflection of what I want out of the remaining part of my life, whatever that may be.

After working for 14 companies in that time and almost six with my current employer, I've decided to resign from a $100,000+ job and move to Scottsdale AZ to take a 6 month sabbatical from any and all work. My only job for the next half of year is to lose 75-100 pounds, get a great tan, and improve my golf game so I can have a 8 or 9 handicap again.

I'm leaving around the 16th or so of this month and spending a week or so driving out visiting friends along the way I know from my childhood.

While it was really scary to walk away from a great job to go to a place with no job, no home and just one or two friends there, I am really excited to be entering a new chapter in my life. :D

It is a short ride we are on so you better enjoy it along the way!

Good luck and have fun man. Sounds awesome!

Are you in a position to completely retire?

Good for you. Do it while you can.

I'm taking 2 weeks off. Feels like 2 months.

Enjoy it.

Losing 75-100 pounds will add several years onto your life. Sounds like a very smart decision to put your health before money.

Best of luck- you only get one shot at this thing called life, you might as well do what makes you happy.

Good luck to you sir. Take care of yourself.

I'm going to Europe for two weeks at the end of summer (i think you commented in my thread on it) I haven't had two weeks without working since I was a Junior in high school.

I cannot wait.

Good luck man. We weren't put on this earth to be mindless worker drones.

I retired the 1st time at 52 from a highly stressful job in a town I hated. The first few months were filled with buying a new home, getting it together (it was under construction when we bought it), and working on my golf game and drinking beer. But I did get bored after a while and went back to work just for something to do. Stayed there for 18 months and retired again. But I got antsy again after a couple years and found another job for 3 1/2 years. It was well paid and was in a field I was an immediate star in, but the 80 mile roundtrip daily started to wear on me. I now work 10-12 hours a week at something I love, I'm my own boss, and I'm able to turn down stuff I don't want to do.
So, if you can do it, go for it and don't look back.

I really like where I'm working at now. That said, it's stressful
I'm in the same kind of position you are Scho and I've definitely thought that when I leave I might take some serious time off. I worry a bit that it'll look bad when trying to get new jobs though.

I've also thought a lot about taking a step back in position. Something where I just went into the office at x hour and left at y everyday and that was all the job encompassed. I'm typing this sitting in the office on what looks like a nice saturday morning. Had a couple minutes waiting for something to run

good luck and get your batteries recharged. walking those golf outings for 6 months would go a long ways on shedding some weight.

Doesn't matter as long as Alex is the QB.

Awesome. Enjoy the time off.

My wife and I often ponder doing something like this. But every other year or so I take a month off to go wander, and I find that I'm really ready to get back to my normal life after that amount of time. My wife is the same way, though perhaps with an even shorter cycle. So it works best for me to go with more frequent breaks that are a month or so.

I think I'm going to take about 40 days off next year, though. If my plans work out, I've got a pretty cool trip planned, and it'll take that amount of time.

Oh, and just because we all look out for each other, you don't need to lose 75-100 pounds if you weigh under 175. Anorexia can be deadly.

Good Luck, Scho. Let us know when you get re-settled.

Good for you. :thumb:

wait, did you post in rainmans relocation thread....?

I left a well paying but high stress job when I was close to 50. Thought about being semi-retired, taking on small jobs in my field here and there. After about a year and a half I started going a bit stir crazy and decided to get a job albeit a low stress job. Found a good government job that doesn't pay like my previous job did but is very low stress and in my skill set. I will be 54 in a few months and will be able to retire with a pension at 60 if I choose to. I have found that money isn't everything and I am much happier now. Good luck to you Scho, sounds like you have a great plan.

I'm exactly where you're at Scho. Will be 54 in September and haven't had any real time off in 30 years. Having 15,000 head of live animals and 12 half brain dead employees doesn't allow any time to relax. It's 7 days a week. Both my knees are shot ,a herniated disc and now need glasses to open a damn beer. My goal is to retire at 55 and I have a new bass boat in my near future. Good luck on your next chapter in life.

good for you. I hope you find what you want. Many would like to do that.

This is why teaching and summers off helps. I get 2-3 months off to relax and refresh. When people complain that teachers get time off-it is to relax. And it is unpaid. But I have been at it 24 years.

You've got balls of steel man, I'd never think I was in a good enough position to do that. I guess too much bad (and expensive) shit has happened, that no matter how much money I had, I'd worry it wasn't enough.

Yours are only half brain dead? You win!

Do you have days where you feel like you will be the last boar semen extractor of your kind and when you die your craft will die with you because with technology and the gotta have it now demand for boar semen nobody is trained in the old ways anymore?

Get close with lewdog I think he's in to pumping people up.

Good for you, scho. Go live life a little while you can still enjoy it.

How are you planning to lose the weight, if I might ask?

you're my new hero.

I hear about people doing this in my field lots of time. 95 percent of the time the are kicking themselves for losing PTO and the pay when coming back and they wish they would have just stayed until retirement. Now they may never retire. I am sure it will work out for you.

Thank you everyone for the kind words. Interesting to see others have done this.

I am no where close to enough money for retirement but at this point I really don't give a shit. I need to get back the passion and drive I lost. That's the number one priority.

When I see all the people I love like my Mom and Dad dying at 57 and 60, young friends and several recent CP members in my age bracket, it really puts things in perspective.

I have a 24 gym I will be joining and expect to be there no less than 6 days a week if no everyday. Elliptical works great for me along with free weights and a few machines.

I expect to lay in the sun and sleep everyday at a public pool I have already identified and then hit the gym in the evenings for 3-4 hours. That will be my job.......

I would get in the habit doing a food journal. Make that shit a habit first. You would be surprised how many calories you take in a day. From there once you get a long look at what you are actually eating it makes you think about that candy bar knowing you would have to run 2 miles to get that off.

Best of luck man. I'm about 10 years behind you and hope I can call it quits for good by the time I'm 55. Been working since I was 15 at one thing or another. Can't remember a time I didn't have a job. Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration to take leap!

This isn't bad advice

I knew I couldn't stay on top of your list forever, but it still hurts.

Hard to disagree.

I love veggies of all kinds, salads, and many healthy things.

My two downfall items: bread of all kinds- for sandwiches, for burgers, Italian bread with pasta, French bread with butter and dijon mustard, naan with indian, tortillas with soft tacos.

Second is cheese. I could eat 3 pounds a day. My charcuterie and cheese platters are legendary.

welp.

Big decision. Good luck!

I am your same age. I wish you the very best and congrats on your decision. I am in the same income range as you but I do not have the same stress level. If I could take that kind of time I would but I would feel lost from my sincere second family at work. The wife and I take a week alone on the shores of San Destin and get revived. I wish you nothing but the best and enjoy the time off, away from the hustle and bustle! Cheers! :toast::toast::toast: I am currently on a 12 and a 1/2 hour day go live where I work for 10 to possible 14 days. With 5 weeks of vacation, I will enjoy sun and fun 3 months from now with my better half! Best wishes!

Weird how similar our situations are. Same age-range. Just sold my business and am taking at least a year off. Haven't had a real vacation since 2007. First day of freedom was February 1st. Just got back from a week in Scottsdale. Played Grayhawk, Talking Stick, The Raven, Legacy, and The Phoenician. Good luck, and enjoy the time off! Life's too short to grind it all away without enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Yeah, I've never had a safety net, so it would be hard to voluntarily give up pay. I'm always doing the math on my finances, thinking, "Okay, if I became homeless how much money would I have for food if I just lived off interest and dividends?" It's hard to change that mindset.

In the immortal words of the ancient philosopher Trey Anastasio, "Can't I live while I'm young?"

Good luck to you. Hopefully you find something fulfilling on the horizon.

In Scottsdale, I think the horizon is pretty much all senior communities.

Say what?!

Scottsdale is happening and full of fun, not the senior community (that's Sun City). Only worry I have in this is Scho wanting to go out and booze/party every night while living there. :D

You're thinking of the wrong side of Phoenix. Scottsdale is happening. Especially now with spring training going. We partied like rock stars there last week, bars and clubs were overflowing. You can't walk 5 steps in Scottsdale or Tempe without running into a young hottie.

i was forced into my sabbatical, but it was good as i needed out of the printing on paper industry. even if i get stuck in retail for a short time, at least there will be security in food and clothing. i mean if macdonalds pay's 16, surely i can find something for 26, right? :D

In my food journal it is painful to keep on writing Cookies 400 calories ice cream 600 calories. You have to be consistant with keeping one but it does make you think about your choices. Measure your shit as well. It is lots of work and you should be uncomfortable but not like going crazy with hunger. You definately have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable when you are forming new habits.

Good luck scho, takes balls!

This is awesome. I wish I could do the same. I'm going to work myself into a position to do just this.

Best wishes and good luck. God bless.

LMAO

If the goal is to improve your health you won't regret it.

That's awesome. I'd upgrade to Italy, but maybe you're more the AZ type.

If the market stays nominal, the summer of 2020 should have me over then line for the desired replacement rate and 100% safe in the KMA club. I'm not saying I walk that day, I just look forward to knowing the money will be there should I decide to. Mostly I'm stocking up on coin for the younger son's college when he gets there. Until then it's the daily grind of the gym in the morning (to keep the doctor's pie-hole shut), and work after that.

One day I look forward to driving to the gym, weekdays, when the sun's up. But not that I have the younger son going, it's "funner than ever" (as he says). But yeah, it'll be difficult to adjust to the folks at the gym once the working class folks have left for work! Soccer moms! Ha!

Hopefully I'll be doing it all in Northern Italy!

For you younger guys, Manage your money now. Put as much as you can into your retirement funds. (Pretax or not) DON"T try keeping up with everyone else. Pay cash for as much as you can. The mind set "it's only $50.00 a month payment" will get you into trouble. I retired 4 years ago at 55 and don't regret a day of it. Our expenses our set up on my retirement income and does not include my wife's income. Manage yourself now so you can live a life after work.

This... Feed the pig!

A govt job sounds great.

The best part of a gov job is a pension after only being there 10 years. My previous job had a decent 401K, they matched up to 6% of which I of course took advantage of. They also did profit sharing which grew the nest egg even more. I rolled the 401K over to a IRA and it isn't a small chunk of change since I started it when I first started working there. I wish I would of contributed the max allowed by law. I have had a couple of substantial inheritances as well and could retire now but my wife isn't ready so it doesn't make any sense for me to sit around by myself. I told her though that my plan will be 60 or maybe a few years after that whether she is ready or not.

I agree for the youngsters out there, start early saving for retirement and you will be amazed with how much you will reap.

I stress this endlessly with the young engineers I hire. It's tough to convince a 25-year-old to do it, it sure was with me, but once they've done it for 10 years, life is good. I get some folks can't do the legal limit, but 10% is the bare minimum IMO, and I mean bare minimum..

I've played 3 out of 5 of those. Love Grayhawk and had a coyote follow me for about 4 holes trying to get a piece of my sandwich. I gave him some potato chips.

I also remember the Raven at South Mountain having these cool misters on the cart that you could spray yourself with.

I'm stunned how many people on this board are between the ages of 48-58.

No wonder why we all can relate to misery as Chiefs fans for the last 40-50 years.

ANYONE who does not take advantage of a company that offers matching 401K contributions and profit sharing is a fool and should not handle money.

You make 100% a year on your money if you put in the same maximum match as your company. Only loansharks and pay day lenders make that much vig on their money.

You may need credit to get a car that is worth a shit to get to work and maybe a house but **** all other credit shit. It is a mind game.

Look into naturally slim to help you drop the weight. It's been great for me and amazing for my wife.

only time I have been off that long I was unemployed, really hard to enjoy the time off


Have a great vacation

I booked marked the page after reading all the highlights. Thanks for the advice and I'm gong to look into it a little more. :clap:

Good luck! I've done this off and on (Age 47, no kids) and may take a year off again soon to travel the country and take pics. Things I learned the hard way:

1. Make sure you have some structure to your day. The more rituals the better imo. After years of working you will quickly feel adrift w/o it. Something like a workout class at 8am 3 days/week worked great for me.

2. Find something to occupy your mind. I learned and played online poker and also learned some new programming languages. The times I wasn't engaged I quickly got lazy-brain which led to general blah feeling.

3. Volunteer for something a few hours/week. This will give you back many times what you put into it in terms of satisfaction, and will help fulfill your biological need to feel useful to the tribe.

Also if you really want to lose that much weight I'd recommend looking into some kind of structured program at a local university or hospital. If that's not available find a nutritionist. You want to do it the right way or it will **** up your metabolism. I learned that the hard way too.

I'm down 17# in 6 weeks, and I'm not adhering strictly. My wife has dropped 60# in 15 weeks.

:hmmm:

I need to look into that.

I learned about it from another online message board, where lots of people have lost the weight and kept it off. We still eat anything we want, just slower and less of it. I have had very few instances of being hungry or craving something I couldn't eat. A lot of big employers even pay for it, and they run specials occasionally on the price. It's not cheap, since it's an online course there's no food or anything else to make their money on, but it's probably cheaper per pound than any other program.

interesting. I'll have to read up on it more . My fat ass needs to lose probably 60+lbs.
same with my wife, though with her MS diagnosis a few years back, it's hard for her to really exercise to the point of burning enough to actually lose a chunk of weight like that. So, something like this sounds beneficial to her; changing some stuff, and a little moderate exercise would do the trick for her I think. i've been trying to take a 1/2 walk during my lunch break at work a few times a week to try to 'start' a bit of a lifestyle change.

you'll have to register to read, but here's 267 pages of talk that got me into it. You don't really exercise other than attempting to get as close to 10k steps a day as you reasonably can. (Most days I get about 8k)

You can eat a lot less food than you do today and still not be hungry, you just don't know it yet!

http://www.tivocommunity.com/communi...#post-11159049

Good luck.

I took today off. Spent most of it driving back from a man trip this weekend. I rarely do that taking a day off to do something for me.

I think I'm going to try to do a little more of that.


I just realized I spent 3hrs of my day off on conference calls.

I'm taking a lifetime one. Have for about 10 years :)

P90x literally changed my life. Started it 6 years ago. Couldn't even pass the prelim test when I started, and could only do about 30% of the reps. But I hung in there. I went from 203lbs to 178 during the first 90 days, and that was with putting on a bunch of muscle. I bet I lost 40-plus lbs of fat. I did the recommended diet with it, so the whole time I was stuffing my face full of chicken and veggies until I couldn't eat any more.

Once you get to the end of the 90 days, you have a new body and the discipline to keep it that way.

Good for you, scho!

I just turned 51. I'm not far behind you in terms of being burned out. Hopefully, at the end of this year, I will have sold a business that gives me enough **** you money that I'll only work when I want to. My plan is to spend my time travelling with my wife, hanging out with my kids and volunteering with several organizations. I've been a rat in the race for my entire adult life - it's time to enjoy the fruits of my labor as well as my health while I still have it.

I wish you all the best, scho. May you capture happiness and health in the next chapter of your journey through life! :toast:

Am I the only person in their fifties who can't afford to stop working and wander the world?

I'm working until noon on the day of my funeral.

:clap:

Awesome

I think that is a great idea, enjoy today


I'm fascinated by this, could you elaborate on your financial strategy

Like renting a house or did you buy one to flip ? Couch surfing :D

Congratulations, I hope to do something like this someday

Here too. Not the conference calls, but on the every day shit. I have tried to work out some times where I could get the hell out. After picking up the paycheck on the first, I haven't heard a word from our hired man.

:cuss:

I think given the fact that prices are in the shitter, I think I'm out on getting anyone new. Nevermind.

ROFL

Pretty sure I'm going to be late trying to get one last quarter knocked out.

Sounds incredible. Good luck!

Man that's sweet. Congrats on pulling that trigger and treatin yoself

Wow, great for her! She doing any exercise as well? :hmmm: