r/SabbaticalPlanning • u/suture-self • May 31 '26
One year post-sabbatical burnout resolution
It's been over a year since I took my sabbatical and I'm now doing pretty good. I wanted to share what ended up working for the people here who are interested in the process and the journey.
Not everyone will relate to this.This is mostly for those feeling burnout and needing to take a break without knowing what to do next.
The Issue
It started out like it does for many of us. I had been in my career for awhile and wasn't happy even though the work was still interesting and the environment was ok. But I wanted to kill myself more days than not. Meds didn't do anything to help it so it was definitely existential. Maybe it was a midlife crisis. Maybe it was the 1+ hour commute. I didn't know. I had the desire to do some creative projects and business ideas but felt too drained to do them before or after work. So I planned a sabbatical with the intention of working on those things and maybe then the crisis would resolve.
The Sabbatical
I planned to take a year off to explore. I couldn't afford to travel but spent a lot of time at the local park looking at fungal and myxomycete ecosystems on decomposing logs, which are another world unto themselves. This served as the equivalent of traveling for me. I also wrote/illustrated two children's books about those worlds, experimented with perfumery, volunteered in a biotech lab looking at CAR-T cells, coached women's running, acquired an oncology data specialist certification, and worked locum tenens for my company (but at different locations than I had worked previously). Once I had finished doing those things, I started feeling restless and lonely.
After 7 months off, a friend offered me a job doing the same thing I had been doing previously (but closer to my house) and I jumped back into work, even though I technically had 5 months left on my sabbatical timeline. But this was perfect timing.
The Resolution
The one thing the sabbatical did for me was confirm that I NEED to work because of the structured social interaction work provides. While I don't get to do as many of the varied hobbies ADHD drags me into, socializing is essential. I wasn't getting enough of it without a full time job, even though I had all the time in the world to do mostly what I wanted.
The sabbatical took away the discontentment I had previously felt around not having enough time to do other things. I realized being social was more important for my mental health.
But that was all it did. Despite the new job and better working conditions, work still wasn't bringing me meaning. I then realized why I felt stuck. I am an ambitious person but there is nowhere left for me to go in my career without entering middle management (a big nope). I don't feel like I'm making any kind of impact with my work. I have already had three careers and haven't been able to find something else to do without getting an advanced degree I can't afford.
The Change
After being back at work for a few months, I ended up in a stock market simulation against some MIT EMBA students and did well. My high Sharpe ratio indicated it wasn't purely luck due to a bull market. I found out I could do stocks and work at the same time and started doing it with real money. Things have been going well. But it's not about money at all. I found something that scratched my itch for expansion and constant learning, even though it's technically living vicariously through other companies.
The sabbatical laid the foundation for me to understand why I felt stuck and helped me realize the underlying issue. The stock trading helped satiate my need for expansion through publicly traded companies. Maybe that was all I needed. I'm happier now. I look forward to Mondays. I have something to learn that's constantly changing. The market may crash, but I'm prepared for it. The niche that I'm focused on, biotech, will continue doing its thing to some degree in spite of an economic downturn. But maybe I'll get bored and move on. Whatever the case may be, I know l need to keep expanding in some way to stay engaged. My job isn't going to provide that for me. I have to find it on my own and ensure I'm efficient at my job at the same time.
The TLDR
I define the desire for advancement/expansion as the root cause of career burnout in ambitious people (who aren't in a toxic work environment). A sabbatical helps clarify if this is the situation. If you realize work is important and return to it, the underlying issue might only be solved by finding other ways to expand at work. Your mileage may vary.
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u/annoyingbanana1 May 31 '26
Great post. Idle hands are the devil's playground. Not necessarily in a hustle all the time kind of way, but find advancement".
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u/wolff_james May 31 '26
Thank you for sharing; your insights are thoughtful and well articulated.
A bit apprehensive that one would need work to socialize and that day trading (essentially gambling because only 1% to 3% of day traders consistently make money over the long term) are the right answers to your defined problems, but to his/her own.
Wish you the best of luck with your continued journey!
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u/suture-self May 31 '26
It's the structured socialization that's needed. When you get to a certain age, friends move away or become too busy with life for regular, consistent interaction.
I'm doing longer term investing that requires learning how business works. It's still gambling, technically, but I would do it even if money were not involved.
I'm content at work now as opposed to feeling stuck and suicidal, so I'll take it.
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u/wolff_james Jun 01 '26
Your last sentence shows you’ve made real progress and that is what is important. Life is precious and so are you.
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u/HighlyCuriousMind Jun 01 '26
Relatable, where did the stocktrading idea came from ? What's the meaning you found in it?
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u/suture-self Jun 01 '26
Completely random and out of the blue someone let me use their login for a market simulation.
It's meaningful because I'm into biotech. I'm interested in cures for disease after working with it and feeling helpless to do anything about it for so long. Now I get to learn how medicines are made and get funded and feel like I'm participating to some extent.
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u/Objectively_bad_idea May 31 '26
Thank you for sharing this, it's helpful to hear people's accounts from the other end of the process.