Yes! I am proud of you for making this big leap. You will not regret it. Rebranding yourself and your feelings totally works.
My husband and I abruptly quit our teaching jobs three years ago. We are nearing retirement age, but definitely not quite there. But we called it retirement from that so we could go pursue our dream of becoming global nomads with no fixed address (not homeless, 'location-independent'). We even went to a grocery store bakery and ordered ourselves a cake with the message 'Happy Retirement Andy & Sherry' scrolled on the top. After picking up the cake, we went down to the river, set up a table under the shade of the bridge, and began to cut the cake. There was no party. We just served cake to whoever we encountered--families beating the heat, singles walking their dogs, etc. All these total strangers celebrated with us. It was the perfect launch for setting out on our own, meeting strangers and converting them to friends and community.
I can't wait to hear about your sabbatical as it unfolds, morphs, and grows. You will be changed for the better. 💜
Work really should be a means to an end. So few people end up doing what they truly love to do so I believe a job is something you do in order to live the life you really want. Congrats on quitting. It takes courage. Most of my best decisions came after leaving (voluntarily or not) corporate. Good riddance. The comfort zone is overrated.
Congrats on this exciting new chapter! I am so beyond excited for you, and glad our exchanges sparked some encouragement :) can't wait to see where this journey takes you!
Congrats on taking the big leap of faith and doing a sabbatical ! And I’m excited to follow along the way with you share during this time !
Back in February I made the decision to move from Indiana to Massachusetts knowing all the risks (the big (and scariest) one being potentially having no job when I arrive on July 1. There was a fear that people especially in the Midwest would think I’m insane for taking on such a risk, but I knew deep down it was best thing I could do for myself. The job search made me question my self-worth and if coworkers had hyped me up at work with what I bring to the table (or in this case off). All that is to say, I do believe everything tends to work itself out in the time it’s suppose to and sometimes it just takes patience to see how it unfolds.
I enjoyed reading your article, Brenna, and your inspiration to take a sabbatical for yourself. (What a great idea.) But I am a little confused, too. Aren't you already living in Italy? For a while now? Were you working remotely and just decide to quit?
Ugh. It sounds awful. Congratulations on following your intuition to take a sabbatical. I'm sure all kinds of new opportunities will open for you now that you have a bit of time and energy to open to them.
I’m so excited for you, it’s a brave thing to do but is that just because we’ve been ingrained to believe being employed is the only way? So reframing it is a great idea to turn it into a positive. Can’t wait to see what’s next for Brenna!
LOVE THIS! 💛 So proud of you for taking the leap, even though you had all the reasons you could have talked yourself out of it. I can only imagine the amazing year you're going to have!!! 🙌
Congratulations! I don’t think you’ll ever regret it. You should definitely write a year reflection on the other side, so keep track of all the net new things you get to do that otherwise wouldn’t be possible and maybe it can fuel my next “quit with no set agenda” decision in about a year. :)
I think it’s especially brave to quit when things are alright vs just totally over it.
Congratulations on your decision to embrace your sabbatical!
While on vacation, (2013) I came across a funky shop/home combo & brainstormed what we could do with it & what was holding us back from jumping into this exciting opportunity. We decided it was only fear holding us back so we went for it!
I gave notice and within 3 weeks we were open! We loved our little shop for 5 years!
It inspired us to live as authentically as we could & we have never looked back.
I am thankful that I am able to support myself without a "normal 9 -5 job"
I love your re-framing of words—being a free agent—not without work. Having vision, not fear about the future. So much in life is how we view things. I’m sure blue skies are ahead and congratulations on taking that leap!
It is truly a superpower that more people should discover and use.
The human mind is capable of so much!
Enjoy!
The employment storm will pass and the work landscape will be different, yet there will always be a place for humans to create and discover.
My team and I work at the leading edge of artificial intelligence research and development, and the more that we make and learn, the more sure we are that there is a lot for humans to do and enjoy out of life.
Yes! I am proud of you for making this big leap. You will not regret it. Rebranding yourself and your feelings totally works.
My husband and I abruptly quit our teaching jobs three years ago. We are nearing retirement age, but definitely not quite there. But we called it retirement from that so we could go pursue our dream of becoming global nomads with no fixed address (not homeless, 'location-independent'). We even went to a grocery store bakery and ordered ourselves a cake with the message 'Happy Retirement Andy & Sherry' scrolled on the top. After picking up the cake, we went down to the river, set up a table under the shade of the bridge, and began to cut the cake. There was no party. We just served cake to whoever we encountered--families beating the heat, singles walking their dogs, etc. All these total strangers celebrated with us. It was the perfect launch for setting out on our own, meeting strangers and converting them to friends and community.
I can't wait to hear about your sabbatical as it unfolds, morphs, and grows. You will be changed for the better. 💜
Aww thanks Sherry! Love the story about your shared cake 🍰 💜 what a beautiful start!
I am so encouraged by the community on Substack!
Work really should be a means to an end. So few people end up doing what they truly love to do so I believe a job is something you do in order to live the life you really want. Congrats on quitting. It takes courage. Most of my best decisions came after leaving (voluntarily or not) corporate. Good riddance. The comfort zone is overrated.
Thanks for sharing that Bob! I am floored by all the encouragement! 😊
Congrats on this exciting new chapter! I am so beyond excited for you, and glad our exchanges sparked some encouragement :) can't wait to see where this journey takes you!
Congrats!! This takes courage! I'm excited for what is ahead for you.
Thanks Kirsten!
Congrats on taking the big leap of faith and doing a sabbatical ! And I’m excited to follow along the way with you share during this time !
Back in February I made the decision to move from Indiana to Massachusetts knowing all the risks (the big (and scariest) one being potentially having no job when I arrive on July 1. There was a fear that people especially in the Midwest would think I’m insane for taking on such a risk, but I knew deep down it was best thing I could do for myself. The job search made me question my self-worth and if coworkers had hyped me up at work with what I bring to the table (or in this case off). All that is to say, I do believe everything tends to work itself out in the time it’s suppose to and sometimes it just takes patience to see how it unfolds.
That’s amazing Sarah! Way to take a chance on yourself! Wishing you nothing but success!
I enjoyed reading your article, Brenna, and your inspiration to take a sabbatical for yourself. (What a great idea.) But I am a little confused, too. Aren't you already living in Italy? For a while now? Were you working remotely and just decide to quit?
I was working remotely, US hours! It was tough.
Ugh. It sounds awful. Congratulations on following your intuition to take a sabbatical. I'm sure all kinds of new opportunities will open for you now that you have a bit of time and energy to open to them.
I’m so excited for you, it’s a brave thing to do but is that just because we’ve been ingrained to believe being employed is the only way? So reframing it is a great idea to turn it into a positive. Can’t wait to see what’s next for Brenna!
Thanks Hayley!
LOVE THIS! 💛 So proud of you for taking the leap, even though you had all the reasons you could have talked yourself out of it. I can only imagine the amazing year you're going to have!!! 🙌
Thanks Megan!
congratulations on doing the damn thing!
Thanks Sarah! Thanks for being great Inspo!
FREE AGENCY. 🤯 This is so perfect. I’m taking that bit of wisdom with me for sure!
Cheers to you, Brenna, and to every sabbatical adventure that’s to come. 🥂
Thanks Maddie! It’s great to see you on the other side!
Congratulations! I don’t think you’ll ever regret it. You should definitely write a year reflection on the other side, so keep track of all the net new things you get to do that otherwise wouldn’t be possible and maybe it can fuel my next “quit with no set agenda” decision in about a year. :)
I think it’s especially brave to quit when things are alright vs just totally over it.
Thanks for your encouragement Mikaela! I’m excited to see where the wind takes me.
Congratulations on your decision to embrace your sabbatical!
While on vacation, (2013) I came across a funky shop/home combo & brainstormed what we could do with it & what was holding us back from jumping into this exciting opportunity. We decided it was only fear holding us back so we went for it!
I gave notice and within 3 weeks we were open! We loved our little shop for 5 years!
It inspired us to live as authentically as we could & we have never looked back.
I am thankful that I am able to support myself without a "normal 9 -5 job"
Amazing Inspo! Thank you for your encouragement!
I love your re-framing of words—being a free agent—not without work. Having vision, not fear about the future. So much in life is how we view things. I’m sure blue skies are ahead and congratulations on taking that leap!
“So much in life is how we view things”. 🥹 so true! Thanks Jeanine!
Definitely scary! I did the same about a year ago. I realized it would be even worse to look back 10 years from now nad thin 'what if...?'
Beautiful and very well put together
Yes!
Reframing is so powerful!
It is truly a superpower that more people should discover and use.
The human mind is capable of so much!
Enjoy!
The employment storm will pass and the work landscape will be different, yet there will always be a place for humans to create and discover.
My team and I work at the leading edge of artificial intelligence research and development, and the more that we make and learn, the more sure we are that there is a lot for humans to do and enjoy out of life.
Hi Raul what is your business/ work? I work in AI for translation, a great use case.
Thanks for reading and for your encouragement!
Hi Brenna, I provide engineering services to companies making custom cameras. I also write software agents to do some of the engineering work.
I have a team of subcontractors and interns that support many parts of the business.
One intern analyzes our internal “LLM”, another intern compares it with commercial ones for sentence generation.
The “LLM” is part of a software agent that interacts with Product Managers to architect custom cameras.
Very fun work!
Wow! 😮 sounds so cool Raul!
It is very fun. A great job 30-years in the making.