Musings of a sabbatical-eur ;)

September 2016


After a decade of major life events - CA final examination, job search for an out-of-this-world role, working at World Bank; desire to learn something new, MBA application process, roller-coaster year at ISB; massive job hunt for that amazing & elusive role, joining Biological E; World war III regarding search for the needle (aka suitable boy) in the haystack, whirlwind courtship, dhoom dhaam se shaadi (marriage); setting up home in Hyderabad, debating next course of action and relocating to Mumbai - I said: 

(Source: Google)


I decided to take a much deserved sabbatical, whilst travelling, reading all the books I could get my hands on, fulfilling my long pending wish of writing a blog and in general contemplating the higher purpose in life ;) The sabbatical started on a wonderful note - traveling to my dream destination Austria; and though I am enjoying this phase like there is no tomorrow; taking this step comes with its fair share of bouquets and brickbats - as a Chartered Accountant, it's my responsibility to start a discourse with a disclaimer šŸ˜!


(Source: Google)


Well meaning friends and colleagues will keep hinting that as time goes by, your bargaining power (negotiating with companies regarding compensation) will decrease. Whenever I receive such advice, I simply smile because I do realise the concern behind these statements; but I don't believe this to be true. To elaborate, I recently attended an ISB workshop on interviewing skills by a renowned trainer. It was a wonderful session wherein he dispelled certain common myths - one of the topics was how interviewers view a candidate who has taken a sabbatical. He mentioned that now a days more and more companies are viewing this in a positive light. He explained how this "gap in the resume" came to be viewed in a negative light - there were a couple of incidents in the US in early 1970's when interviewers noticed that the gaps in the candidates' resumes were on account of serving jail time! This led to gaps in the resume being suspiciously viewed by interviewers. So like I said, this is not necessarily a panic button, as long as one is upfront about it.


So to answer the obvious question 'Is it tough getting a job after a break?' - "Yes". And the answer to the obvious follow up question - 'Is it worth taking a sabbatical?' - "Resounding yes!!" šŸ‘. I will do my best to explain these seemingly contradictory statements.

 1. A sabbatical is rejuvenating - Taking a break doesn't necessarily mean quitting everything. Contrary to popular perception, the entire day is not devoted to staring into vacant space šŸ˜‰. I am always asked this question "So what do you do after your husband goes to office?". And my answer is "Wondering if 24 hours in a day will ever be sufficient to pursue all the tons of things I want to do - Zumba, reading fiction and non-fiction, news updates, movies and new experiences!" As much as it's fun to wake up without rushing into meetings and more meetings (oh yes, and working in between meetings šŸ˜šŸ˜‚), ensuring that we use available time productively requires proper planning.

 2. Adopting a healthy lifestyle: When we are working, our sedentary lifestyle combined with 'not-enough-time syndrome' leads us to make unhealthy lifestyle choices - both in terms of not-so-healthy food and lack of exercise. A break offers us the superb opportunity of experimenting with different healthy alternatives; and once we start exercising or hitting the gym, we get into a routine which then becomes sustainable.  

 3. New experiences, learning and creativity: Learning is a life long journey and all this new found time gives us the opportunity of travelling, meeting new people and exploring different opportunities. I am a huge proponent of experiential spending vis-a-vis material things (as I seem to have made this point a couple of times already, I will move on;). In the context of being creative, as my sister is the whole and sole recipient of CCG (Challa Creative Gene), I have no option but to try my hand at creating new words (like this post's title suggests), in the eternal hope that one day one of these words might find an entry as Oxford's word of the year šŸ˜‰šŸŒŸ!

 For me, the journey is as important as the destination and the older I get, the more I understand that it's ok to live a life that others don't understand. 

     
   
(Source: Google)

 Signing off by humming 'Happy' song by Pharell Williams...

 Because I'm happy 
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth šŸ˜‡
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you šŸ˜Š
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do šŸ‘ šŸ‘ šŸ‘


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