To quote an old phrase, WE ARE NOT ALONE!!!
In fact, there are umpteen other people out there advocating (and taking) sabbaticals and career breaks. I see us as a bunch of independent, intrepid souls stubbornly hacking our paths in the work-life jungle and this wild webbed world. Which makes it all the more exciting when we’re actually able to “meet” other members of the tribe and forge a connection.
I’ve recently gotten to know the mother-daughter power-team at yourSABBATICAL.com, a site I’ve long admired. When they asked me to appear on their web pages as a guest blogger, I jumped at the chance. In fact, that request sparked a big idea and may have catalyzed an exciting event and collaboration. I’ll tell you more about that shortly, but first, let me introduce you to the Paganos…
- Their niche? Making sabbaticals mainstream in business
Barbara Pagano and her daughter Elizabeth are the founders of yourSABBATICAL. If you visit their site—and you will!—you’ll enter a world filled with pith, inspiration and resources, more comprehensive and credible than anything else that’s out there. While many of us who carry the sabbatical banner are part-timers and dream chasers, these women are Serious–with a full-time focus of helping corporations with sabbatical programs, coaching aspiring escapees, and spreading the good word. In their own words,
yourSABBATICAL partners with businesses to implement customized sabbatical programs that attract, retain, and accelerate top talent through personal and professional enrichment.”
Yep, that’s some heavy lifting. As a person who is passionate about sabbaticals (both my own and others’), I’m delighted that the yS team is out there nudging corporate America (and everyday Americans) in the direction of greater freedom, flexibility and fulfillment. Their impressive crew is clearly poised to help shift workplace policy and practice. And they’ve created an important forum for dialogue on this rich and growing topic.
- My idea? Getting us all together for a Sabbatical Summit
As our tribe of Big Breakers finds each other, we first sniff each other out, and then play like happy animals and ask, “How can we help each other?” After all, since few people are making a living advocating sabbaticals, there must be ample room for all of us, right? What we need is a movement!
So I cooked up the idea of the Sabbatical Summit. You know, a time and space where some gurus (or at least fanatics) could collaborate, celebrate, and make things happen. And all our like-minded friends could drink from the kool-aid—I mean “well.”
I’ve got a bunch of ideas about what this could look like, and I recently posted them on the yS site right here. Take a peek and add your own .02.
Delusional daydream? Perhaps. But so were distant schemes of taking a year off, going RTW, and spending a winter hopping around Caribbean islands.
Daydreams do come true, you know. And if not, holding on to faith, seeking your destiny, and giving thanks never hurt anyone. Get the picture? Click this link to see what I mean.
And maybe someday—someday—we’ll see you too at the Sabbatical Summit.
PS My sincere thanks to Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano. Expect to hear more from and about them on BreakAway soon!
We are NOT alone! And the proof will hit the fan next month when travelers, career breakers, dreamers and schemers gather in umpteen cities across the U.S. to celebrate the movement and talk up ways to get a break. 
