On February 1st, I start my second sabbatical. It last three months (until May 1), and is an unbelievable perk of my job.

It’s in 26 days, or 17 work days. It has certainly snuck up on me!

I didn’t talk too much about my sabbatical last time I took one. I felt guilty having such an amazing opportunity, and I was also feeling burned out at the time, and knew I couldn’t manage dealing with a lot of requests for my time. I also felt guilty for not “using the time well.” Some people I work with take the opportunity to travel and do novel things, but for my first sabbatical, I just stayed home. I read like 30 books, I painted the kitchen (which involved finding the exact right shade of lavender), and I slept. It’s what I needed at the time, and I have no regrets.

This time, I am telling people about my sabbatical! I really only started telling people in the last week or two, because the collision between planning and reality didn’t seem inevitable before then. But now I’m sure that the future will exist (at least for the next 4 months), so I suddenly realized I should mention it when pertinent. I also feel no guilt about getting this perk! I have worked extremely hard, I absolutely feel entitled to the benefits thereof. I don’t take it for granted, and I remain extremely grateful, of course.

The theme of my sabbatical this time around is self-care. And, (deep breath) I signed myself up to participate in a half marathon at the end of April (on my birthday!). Now, it’s important to note that I am not a runner, nor am I what you’d consider an athlete, nor am I fit. But I’ve got a coach (it’s Bob!) and am already embroiled in 13 workouts per week, and am making noticeable progress. We’ve been working on this since the end of November. I am very uncomfortable telling people about this, so except for a very small group of people, this isn’t something I’ve been sharing. I have been working on internal validation versus needing external validation for the last 6 months or so, and as part of that, I’ve decided that if for some reason I need to bail on the race – it’s ok. If it’s the right decision for me and my health at the time, then I can do that and not feel like I’m letting people down. A pattern I’ve noticed about myself is not wanting to let people down, and using that to guide my actions. That may be ok in some situations, but not for my sabbatical, thank you very much! I am excited to participate in the race, I’m excited to be taking control of my body in this way, and I’m excited (scared) to share about it.

I do also plan to read and sleep a lot, for the record.