Burned Out & Soul-Tired? 3 Ways to Take a Sabbatical—Even with Kids, a Job, and Zero Free Time

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SPEAKER_00: Have you ever found yourself fantasizing about quitting your job, throwing the phone in the ocean, and just running away?

Yes, I'm talking about escaping life, work, the stresses, the anxieties, all the crap that has you thinking to yourself, man, I would really love to run away.

Well, my friend, if you felt like I just took a glance inside of your own personal journal, I read exactly what's on your mind, then my friend, you might need a sabbatical.

Yes, my friend, today we are talking about the idea of taking a sabbatical, what it is, what it means.

And when you think, uh, not for me, well, maybe you're wrong.

Because maybe a sabbatical is for you if you adapt it to what you need, to who you are, to your own situation.

It's a sabbatical, it's an opportunity for you to get back to being you.

So, my friend, if you could use a reset, a recharge, then my friend, it all starts with today's episode.

Welcome to episode 396.

SPEAKER_02: I got grit, grace, and inspiration on my mind.

Don't matter if storms that cause I won't be left behind.

I'm stepping out in fake because I'm perfectly designed.

I got grit, grace, and inspiration on my mind.

SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's your host, Kevin Below.

And my friend, welcome back to Grit Grace and Inspiration.

Today's inspiration came by Ray Martin, our guest inside of episode 395.

A guy who did what I'm talking about.

He took a sabbatical, he took a break because when everything was falling apart in his life, he broke free.

Now, of course, his story is pretty radical.

It's pretty crazy because a six-month sabbatical turned into a 14-year journey traveling around the world.

Whether or not that's what happens to you, well, I guess that chapter is yet to be written, so we will have to see.

But most of all, today is just speaking to you, to the person who feels tired.

And I'm not just talking about sleepy, I'm talking about soul tired.

I'm talking about the part of you who's showing up.

You're going through the motions, you're running constantly.

The alarm clock, it's the errands, the never-ending to-do list, showing up for everyone, putting it all out there, and yet inside, you're running on empty.

You feel like you're breaking, and you feel like there's got to be something that has to change in my life, or something's gonna happen because I can't keep going at this same pace.

I can't keep it up.

And yeah, even in this situation, when I mention the idea of taking a break, of pausing from life, of taking a sabbatical, you think, Kevin, that is absurd.

I don't have time, I don't have the money, and besides, I'm not that person.

I'm not a person who can just take a sabbatical.

But what if I told you to reframe the idea that taking a sabbatical, it's not an escape from life, but rather it's a way for you to come home to life.

It's a way for you to find who you are again, what you love, what you enjoy, who you truly are.

We live in a world full of titles.

We all have some type of title in front of our name.

Maybe it's mom, dad, executive, CEO, whatever it is, it's a title.

And in that, a lot of times, we lose our own identity of who we really and truly are without that title in front of our name.

A sabbatical, this idea of a purposeful rest, it's gonna help you to come back to understanding who you are.

So if we're gonna talk about a sabbatical, yeah, let's face it, setting off on a whirlwind adventure, that sounds awesome.

And maybe you're in a point in your life where, you know what, you can do that.

So, you know what?

If sipping on coconut water while on a beach in Bali sounds like your destination for a sabbatical, well, my friend, more power to you.

But maybe we have to ground things a little bit.

Maybe we have to keep it a little bit more, quote, realistic for you in your situation.

In essence, what I'm talking about is as simple as you choosing to pause so that you can rest.

You can rest your soul, you can re-nurture your soul and come back to what really matters in life.

Basically, my friend, it's you choosing to take a pause so that you can start living again.

Life is long.

And I get it, time older we get, faster goes by.

I get it.

So you may think that you don't have time to pour into yourself.

But my friend, if you just take a pause at the end of the day, if you take a week, a month, six months to focus on you, imagine what that would do in the long term, in the big picture.

We're thinking big, we're looking at it from a big picture view.

So when speaking of this idea of a sabbatical, what could it look like for you?

It may look like you taking a month off to travel with purpose, to do the things that you've been wanting to do that are gonna reset, recharge, revitalize your love for life again.

Maybe it's you taking three months off to finally write the book that you've been talking about.

You've kept it shoved in a drawer, only thinking about it, dreaming about it, only if I had the time.

Well, maybe this is your opportunity to take the break, to take this intentional pause to write the book.

Or maybe it's you simply taking a weekend every week for the next couple of months to get focused back on you and what you really want out of life.

Because maybe you're in a chapter of life right now where you don't even know what you want.

Even if somebody said you could have it all, you just make the wish and it is yours.

You don't even know what that wish would be.

Well, my friend, perfect opportunity for you to get clear on who you are, what you want out of life, what your purpose is in this life.

Now, at this point, I want to reinforce the idea that this idea of feeling like you need a pause, like you need to take a break.

It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you.

It doesn't mean that you're less than.

It doesn't mean that you're not living up, that you're not the amazing person that you are.

It means that you're human.

It means that you actually care about yourself enough to take a break, to take a pause, to do a reset.

This idea of taking a pause, my friend, if you're ready for it, realize it goes deeper than you think.

This is biology, this is spiritual, this is human nature.

It's your need to discover more, to be more.

And it all starts by taking a break.

Now, I hear you.

You've got responsibilities.

You've probably got children at home that are counting on you.

You've got a job to attend to, you don't have the ability to just take off for three months and forget about everything.

I get it.

I understand.

So let's figure out how this could work for you.

If you had the opportunity to design your own sabbatical to match your lifestyle, what would it look like?

Could it literally be a mini sabbatical?

You simply unplugging every Friday just to focus on you.

Maybe you cut out of work early on Fridays.

Well, maybe now instead of just going home, laying on the couch, binging Netflix, you actually do the intentional stuff to work on you.

If you're lucky enough to live somewhere on the coast, maybe it's you grabbing the beach chair and just going and sitting down at the beach just to sit, to enjoy life, to reflect, to get back to being you.

Maybe you're the person who has been wanting to write the book.

You've been wanting to maybe start a side gig.

You've been wanting to tap into that creative side, but you just never find the time.

So maybe what this looks like for you is you marking down in the calendar for the next 30 days, I'm gonna focus on this.

I'm gonna focus on learning how to paint, on drawing.

I'm gonna take a class, I'm gonna devote my time, my effort, my energy into something that I truly want that lights me up, that gets me excited.

Because if it's not something that gets you excited, well, then my friend, what the heck is it even for?

I want you to bring excitement back into your life.

And this is the opportunity.

Maybe for you, this is spiritual, a spiritual sabbatical.

It's you wanting to get back in touch with nature, with yourself.

Well, put yourself in that situation.

Take off every weekend somewhere new, outside of the city limit sign.

Don't go where everybody else goes.

No.

Get out where you don't hear traffic, you don't hear all the noise of modern world.

Instead, you're just out in nature.

All you hear are the birds chirping.

You feel the wind, you hear the wind rustling through the trees, through the leaves.

You're back in nature, in the world that God designed.

My friend, there is no quicker way to get in touch with yourself, to be grounded, and to get out of the city, to get away from all the people, from all the hustle and bustle, and to get where you don't hear any of it.

Where you're just out in the middle of nowhere.

My friend, that is where the magic happens.

And remember, it doesn't have to be long.

It just has to be intentional.

When you're willing to step away from what you do, you're able to discover who you are.

That's what the point of this is.

It's the point of the sabbatical, it's to take a break for you, to step away from all the responsibilities, for all the worries and anxieties, the stresses of life, and to reconnect with you and you alone.

Because, my friend, you may think that this sounds really selfish.

That there's no way that you could do this to focus on you.

Well, I guess I would love to ask you this are you showing up for your family as your best, or is your best being used up while you're at work?

And by the time you get home at five o'clock in the evening, your best is all used up.

You're tired.

And so now the people who mean the most to you, your family, you're not giving them your best.

Well, my friend, that's no way to live.

It's not good for you.

It's not good for your family.

We all need to focus on showing up for the people who mean the most as our best selves.

And I believe the only way we can do that is if we're willing to pour into ourselves first.

Kind of like when you take a flight and they always give you the safety warning before you take off, you put on your oxygen mask first, then you help the person next to you.

That's the same situation here.

You have to be willing to pour into yourself for you to have anything left to pour into others.

So, my friend, today, I hope that something I said inspired you.

Maybe has you thinking about things a little bit differently.

That's the focus, that's the hope with every episode I record.

It's just to give you that little bit of spark, that little bit of insight, that little bit of inspiration, that you know what?

Huh, maybe a sabbatical is for me.

And if you want to learn from somebody who figured it out, who realized it the best, well, as I said, go check out my interview with Ray Martin inside of episode 395, an amazing story of a guy who took a six-month sabbatical, turned it into 14 years, and completely transformed his life and the world in the process.

A link to that episode is inside of the show notes, but easy enough, just wherever you're listening to today's podcast, just go back to the previous episode and click play.

And with that, my friend, be sure that you are following the podcast.

Whether you are listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or one of the many other podcasting apps there are, please be sure that you hit that follow button so that you are notified each week when a new episode is released.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

It is my pleasure to bring you today's episode, as always.

So, my friend, get out there and enjoy this beautiful day.

This, of course, is Grit Grace and Inspiration.

SPEAKER_02: My hopes well defined.

I want my faith, not my sight.

I want fear design, rising higher every day.

Hotel's left behind, cause I got grit.

Grace and inspiration on my mind.