Feature image was taken at Iguazu Falls from the Argentine side 4 days ago. A true sight to behold! Pictures hardly do it justice!
Sabbatical or a sabbatical (from Hebrew: shabbat (שבת) (i.e., Sabbath), in Latin: sabbaticus, in Greek: sabbatikos (σαββατικός), literally a “ceasing”) is a rest from work, or a break, often lasting from two months to a year. (Defined by Wikipedia)
2 month to 1 year, no longer otherwise it isn’t legit 😀 In the conventional FIRE sense, I suppose not. FIRE followers ought to be channeling all of their energy to accumulate as much as possible to achieve FIRE in the quickest time possible. That money that one would spend on a sabbatical, doing whatever they wish to do, should be flowing into income producing assets.
That is true in the traditional sense of FIRE. However there is nothing traditional about FIRE now, is there? FIRE is a new way of looking at life for many of the followers. FIRE makes you question all aspects of life and the million dollar question then is, what is most important to you? Your Money or Your life? Now that is a great book title, I’ll acknowledge that! I haven’t read the book myself but Vicki Robins is the mama of FIRE so I’m sure it’s a good read.
Now there’s the flip side of this coin, as there is for every coin. Some say try a sabbatical to see if that idea of retired you is what you actually want. It might give you more incentive to work harder to achieve FIRE OR you might be shocked to find that you don’t actually enjoy the RE aspect of FIRE. I can’t imagine a person who doesn’t enjoy the FI aspect though, can you?
For us, this was on our minds for a long time and as you know, we took the plunge eventually. However no employer in Asia is going to grant a 1 year sabbatical, not that we have heard of and certainly not ours. Understandably. So we quit. We are on month 4 of our travels and occasionally I do think, would a sabbatical have been a better idea?
It truly is hard to say. There certainly are benefits to knowing that you can live wild and free (financially) and that you have a job waiting for you when you return. At the same time, you can’t quite fully switch off from work then, can you? You wouldn’t want to forget the tiny details of work and your colleagues names etc because you’re going to need these bits of information when you get back.
Is the price of being totally carefree and fully in the moment of travel worth not having a job when you return? There’s no black and white answer here, it’s completely grey. It depends what you value more, how secure you are financially at that point of deciding to quit or get a sabbatical and also, how you view your job.
If it were in our hands, Mr.C and I would have taken a sabbatical for 6 months (or more) rather than quit. We’re risk-averse in most ways and I know it may not seem like it to some of our readers, having sold everything and travelling with young kids when we are not financially independent yet. I did say risk-averse and not risk-free. Alas, it was not our decision alone.
Related:
What We Are Giving Up to Live a Life of Adventure
What’s Holding You Back?
If Not Now, Then When?
This trail pic was taken on the Salkantey Trek that both Mr.C and I did separately to get to Machu Picchu.
Then again, being on this journey with no timeline is a strange feeling. It is liberating and it is almost a natural state to be in. I can’t help but think of Robert Frost’s famous The Road Not Taken. You can’t quite tell how a journey would be and how it would make you feel until you take the journey, can you?
