#26 sabbatical wrap up
So… the time is finally here to head back to work.
It may sound massively cliched but I genuinely can’t believe how quickly this time has gone - nearly 10 months in total. What an incredible privilege to be able to take this kind of time away from work to explore (both literally and figuratively); to say I feel grateful is an understatement. As I come to the end of this time I’m naturally reflecting on what I’ve done and I want to make sure I write down how I have spent this time, since it’s so easy for everything to blur together, to feel I could have done more with my time, or to forget how I’ve spent these days. Ultimately, I want to remember as much as I can.
So here is 10 months of sabbatical by the numbers:
21 cities visited in 10 countries
Read a book per week - a total of 38 books
Learned 2 programming languages & 1 cloud platform
Wrote +10,000 lines of code to create 1 new app
Shot 41 rolls of film
Took +3,600 photos
Completed 76 F45 classes
30 drawings created
Countless coffees consumed
I’ve had an amazing time, I feel that this time away has given me the time and space to be creative, and the freedom to try new things at my own pace. I’m heading back to work feeling so energised.
One of the reflections I’ve had is that I do really like what I do, where I work, and how each new project brings opportunities to learn something new about different facets of business and technology. But there’s also an undercurrent of nerves, some apprehension about losing the level of independence I’ve had the last few months, and worry about how I’ll fit back in. I plan to simply take it day-by-day and focus on the positives - it’s good to be back!
