Taking a Sabbatical

How to Step Away with Purpose

A sabbatical is not simply an escape from work; it’s a return to yourself. In a world wired for busyness and metrics, choosing to pause is a radical, restorative act. Whether you’re an academic stepping back from teaching and research, a creative taking space to reimagine, or a leader navigating burnout or transition, a sabbatical can help you re-anchor.

At its best, sabbatical time opens up new sightlines: into curiosity, clarity, courage, and care. But that doesn’t just happen automatically. This guide helps you shape your sabbatical with intentionality, so it becomes a living, learning season rather than simply time off.

Use this whether you’re crafting a proposal, setting intentions for an approved leave, or helping a colleague, department, or institution support reflective pause as part of a thriving culture.

1. Reconnect With Why You’re Taking This Time

Start from the truth, not appearances. What’s really beneath your decision to pause?

☑ Reflective check-in:
☐ I’ve been overextended or burned out for a while
☐ I feel a creative or intellectual hunger that I haven’t been able to follow
☐ I want to integrate a recent life or identity transition
☐ I’m sensing the need to reset direction
☐ I’m seeking to prevent long-term depletion
☐ Other: ____________________________

✍ I’m noticing ____________________________
✍ I’m curious about ____________________________
✍ I’m holding back because ____________________________

🟦 Prompt: You don’t need to justify the pause, only understand what’s drawing you toward it.

2. Shape a Purpose Statement, not a To-Do List

What’s the soul of your sabbatical? What would integrity and spaciousness look like right now?

Instead of “What will I produce?” try starting here:

✍ “This sabbatical is an opportunity to ____________________________ because ____________________________.”

Or fill out this table with flexible guiding themes:

Theme	What It Means for Me Now	A Practice That Might Support It
e.g. Integration	I’ve been changing faster than my work has	Re-read old writing and annotate insights
e.g. Re-grounding	I want to return to curiosity without urgency	Journal for 10 minutes daily without prompts
e.g. Decolonising time	I want to resist the extractive pace culture	Explore slowness through movement or art

🟦 Prompt: Let your sabbatical goals be verbs, not outcomes, e.g., explore, notice, recalibrate, unlearn, imagine.

3. Choose Anchors, Not Agendas

You don’t need a blueprint, just enough scaffolding to help you feel held.

Map your time by rhythms or seasons, not granular tasks:

Phase	Dates	Essence / Focus
Letting Go	Month 1	Untangle from routine, systems, or identities
Exploration	Months 2–3	Try new inputs, follow inklings
Emergence	Months 4–6	Reflect, integrate, and look forward

✍ A rhythm I want to try is ____________________________
✍ A boundary I want to honour is ____________________________

🟦 Prompt: Design your days with rituals that mark the difference between pause and productivity, walks, reflection, music, and stillness.

4. Build Support and Boundaries That Sustain You

Pause is only potent when it’s protected. Anticipate what might pull you back in, and what will help you stay whole.

☑ Consider:
☐ Who needs to know I’m stepping away, and what do they need to hear?
☐ What’s my “minimum viable engagement” boundary for the outside world?
☐ What feels nourishing but not depleting?

✍ One conversation I need to have to protect this time is with ____________________________
✍ I’ll ask for support from ____________________________ when I feel ____________________________

🟦 Prompt: Boundary isn’t about disconnection; it’s about preserving the soil you need to regrow.

5. Keep a Gentle Record of Becoming

You’re not just doing less, you’re becoming different. Make space to notice that.

Choose a form of light-touch reflection:

☑ Ideas:
☐ Voice notes on walks
☐ Postcards to your future self
☐ A visual log or sabbatical zine
☐ A private blog or letter series

✍ A question I want to return to again and again is ____________________________
✍ An unexpected part of myself I hope to meet again is ____________________________

🟦 Prompt: Don’t wait to understand what it meant. Reflection is meaning-making in motion.

6. Plan for Re-Entry, But Not Yet

Think gently toward what’s next, but let it emerge from who you’ve become, not from external pressure.

☑ When the time comes:
☐ What do I want to bring back?
☐ What no longer fits?
☐ What conversations will I need to open gently?

✍ A value I want to return with is ____________________________
✍ A system or habit I may not return to is ____________________________

🟦 Prompt: Your return doesn’t have to be a performance. Let it be a continuation, with more clarity and less compromise.

Final Reflection: You Are Not Your Output

Taking a sabbatical is an act of integrity. It says: I am worth resting. I am worth rethinking. I am more than my inbox or my identity at work. It’s leadership through alignment, not avoidance.

You’re not stepping out of relevance. You’re stepping into resonance.

🟦 Prompt: ✍ One gentle truth I’m learning through this pause is ____________________________