3 Life-Changing Lessons My Career Break Taught Me

Truth time.

Throughout most of my career, I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

While those around me thrived, I suffered from a lack of enthusiasm and the sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing with my life. 

8 years and 3 companies later, I ran away to business school with hope of finally figuring myself out. It was an amazing two years, but the answers didn’t quite rain down on me like I hoped they would.

I graduated from business school and started a new career - I gave it a chance, but deep down I knew – it wasn't "me" either.

Up to this point, I had let life to happen to me instead of going after the life I wanted.

I wanted to change my approach, so I got myself a life coach.

During our time together, I came to the realization that I needed a break. A big break from life with the freedom to travel around the world and to reconnect with family and friends. 

After 18 months of diligent planning and saving, I left with $40,000 to set out on a career break that turned into a 20-month adventure around the globe. 

Dreams were realized, perspective and meaning were found and happiness returned. 

It was a magical experience and life-changing moment that continues to have ripple effects in my life 4 years later. 

And now I’m going to share with you 3 life-changing lessons I learned from my break.

Courageous leaps are sometimes required and always scary but they are also the moments when you feel the most alive and present in your own life. 

You are steering the ship - not your family, your boss or your own fears that can often hold you back. 

You won’t be able to know your final landing spot ahead of time but that’s a good thing – life may deliver opportunities that you couldn’t have previously imagined. 

I was offered (and accepted) a job working for a dream company in Boulder, CO that didn’t exist before my career break.  A wish I’d put out into the universe 4 years earlier came back to me in a bigger way than I could have imagined.

Sabbaticals and career breaks make you even more interesting and give you lots of great stories worth telling.  

There was a director that sat on my floor at my last corporate job.  He was actually the first person to interview me for the job I eventually accepted.  I always felt like we should have a connection because of that experience but after years of passing each other in the hallway with just a smile and a hello, I realized that was not to be the case. 

But when it was time to leave my job and head out on my big break, the director took time to pull me aside and tell me, with sincerity, that he thought what I was doing was amazing and that he was proud of me for being so brave. 

And when it was time to end my break and start the job-hunting process again, I found it so easy to stand out, find connection with others and have an interesting point of view during my interviews because of the experiences I had on my break. 

It only took five weeks of job hunting and dedicated focus to land 5 job offers after I returned.

It turns out that most companies find those brave enough to follow their dreams and take big leaps interesting and highly desirable. 

Career breaks are not a magic cure-all. 

My career break was a fantastic experience but there was a lot of behind the scenes work done with my life coach beforehand to change my mindset, broaden my perspective and start seeing the possibilities ahead of me. 

I also spent 18 months being very mindful about how I spent my money and working towards a goal that required changing a lot of old habits (retail therapy after a stressful day anyone?).

And while returning from my break was a relatively smooth experience, there were still tough choices and compromise to be made. 

I landed an exciting, but still corporate-ish, job so I could pay off the last $42,000 of my MBA loans (tough choices). 

I took a pay decrease to have a job I thought I would enjoy much more (compromise).  It took me 21 months, but I finally paid off all those loans!

Along the way, I found the courage to listen to my inner voice again and follow my own path in life, no matter how unique and twisty that path may be. 

This gift continues to serve me well today, as I move to become a full-time life coach and am using my own experiences to help others find the same clarity and courage in their lives that I found in mine.

How Elizabeth Gilbert Changed My Life

Last week, I had a very "full-circle" moment as a featured guest on the Extra Pack of Peanuts (EPoP) travel podcast.

And during my interview, I revealed a secret that I don't often share. (More on that in a moment!)
  
When I made the HUGE decision to quit my job to travel around the world, EPoP was an invaluable resource that helped me figure out things like how to pack 8 months of "stuff" into a 40L backpack. For real.

As a guest on their show, I was able to return the favor and use their platform to inspire others with the story of my own 20-month career break.

And during our interview, I explained how Elizabeth Gilbert changed my life.

I don't often share this piece of my story - it can seem a bit cliche when I explain how her memoir, Eat Pray Love, inspired my own big career break.

But cliche or not, it's the absolute truth.

And that's why I'm sharing it with you today. Because I want you to see how YOU too can go from "there's absolutely no way - it's impossible" to "holy sh*t - this is really happening!!!"

When I first read her story, I was in the middle of a full-time 2-year MBA program. In the midst of accruing massive debt, it definitely didn't feel like the "best" time to drop everything and spend a year traveling around the world.

But something deep inside my heart connected with her message.

And even though I didn't think there was any way to make it possible for ME, I carried her story with me and the seeds of a big idea were planted.

And one day, almost four years later, when I had grown desperate for a big change but felt hopeless about how to achieve it... I got myself a life coach and those seeds started to sprout.

And 8 months later, when I was sitting on my life coach's couch trying to figure out what I would do next... those seeds broke the surface and burst to life.

In that moment, I let go of the idea that I needed a "better" job. And instead I grabbed onto the impossible dream my heart had been holding.

I was going to take a career break and live my life "Eat Pray Love" style.

And that's exactly what I did, just 18 months later.

Taking this leap changed my life.

And to think it all began with someone opening my eyes to what was really possible. Right now, I want to pay it forward and do the same for you.

If you need a dose of inspiration to plant beautiful seeds for your own future,
download this Career Break guide right now.

In it, I share 4 of my favorite experiences during my 20-month break and outline how much I spent on each. I also share 9 signs that you might need a career break yourself.

Get ready to start feeling like the impossible might actually be possible...

- Katrina