Personal Experience
Top 6 Lessons I Learned after 4 Months of Career Break
Many people are wanting to jump on the career break after years of working but some of them still aren’t sure about it, so here are the lessons to help you decide whether or not career break is right for you
1 — Having more time for whatever things we want to achieve
By abolishing 8 hours of regular office time in a day, no doubt that we definitely have more time in our hands. We can adjust a new schedule at ease, take a course or pick up a new hobby, have time for the loved ones, and many more! Here’s the example of switching the usual 8 hours working per day to something like this during career break:
- 09.00–10.30 exercise in the gym
- 10.30–12.00 taking online course
- 12.00–13.00 lunch break
- 13.00–16.00 working on personal project/gigs/freelancing
- 16.00–16.15 coffee/tea break or meditation
- 16.15–17.45 doing your hobby (language learning, baking, etc)
2 — Yet, we’re also getting less efficient with time
It is easy to get distracted and choose to indulge ourselves by hours of binge-watching Netflix, scrolling on Instagram, and simply doing something unproductive that leads us to further insecurity and more damaged mental health. It’s normal for us as a human who is known for the ability to take time for granted, to get distracted from the initial goal and purpose because of knowing how much we have somewhat lots of free time. Remember that clock is ticking, if we don’t spend our time wisely and have no sense of responsibility, we will end up gaining nothing from the career break that we take.
3 — Getting some annoying comment and prejudice
I personally don’t find it too bothering but some people consider this as the reason to not take a career break. Other people who don’t understand this concept may think or judge us as a lazy person or someone who are incapable of working and so on. Maybe this can hinder us to take a career break because we want to avoid prejudice. But who cares? As long as you know your vision and mission on running this concept, what they say won’t matter anymore. Also do save a lot and plan well before you take a career break, don’t just go with it without preparation.
4 — Living back with parents can be hard as a grown adult
Being an adult who has been living independently for nearly 12 years, going back living with parents is a big decision. Yet considering that I won’t earn enough money and my parents also against the idea of me spending my savings for a rent. I decided to go back living with my parents and actually I enjoyed it for the first 2 months. After 3 months, I realise what makes it hard is that I will always be treated as a child no matter how old I become. Also there’s also a possibility of them directing my decision since it’s natural for parents to nurture and lead their children. It can be frustrating, but I try my best to compromise and state my reason with patience and eventually they stop intervening with my decision. So if you think you can’t bear the idea of living back with your parents when taking a career break, you might need to consider a bigger sum of saving to pay for the rent.
5 — Getting to know ourselves better and healed from the mental burden
Since I have a low level of stress and obviously a plenty time for myself, I spend a lot of time reading books, learning new things, exploring a new hobby, connecting with old friends, journaling, and do lots of things I wasn’t able to do when I was a full-time employee. By doing so I finally figure out at the philosophical level what I want to achieve and pursue in life, what ideal job for me is like, and how to truly understand/connect with myself. I show more enthusiasm, share better ideas, and have a good dynamic with the team of my current freelance project. Well thanks to the career break, I hope I can maintain this excellent mental quality when I go back to work full-time again.
6 — Forcing ourselves to be more frugal
Trust me… I was a big spender. I spent lots of money for lots of unnecessary branded bags, shoes, and other weird pricy stuff like action figure (like, what the heck was I thinking?). I did that as a compensation of my stress for working long hours, dealing with irritating colleagues, and so on. Then when I finally decided to plan my career break I tried to live frugally and I also took many freelance jobs beside my full-time job so that I can save more money and resign as soon as the saving target is reached. This attitude continues to exist today, and this has helped me to truly understand what I really need and why my wants are usually deceiving. I also become more financially savvy and better at managing money (also thanks to “The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel” that has helped me learning more about how money works).
So, are you ready to prepare for your career break? Also for those who already done it, please let me know your struggle and success going through the career break by leaving a comment down bellow 😉
