Off the Grid: A sabbatical can inspire you to quit, or rekindle your love for the job

But four months into his sabbatical, he felt the need to get back some structure into his schedule. He started missing “the rut”. A few weeks later, his former employers asked him if he wanted to get back to his old job. “I knew that I couldn’t live like that forever. I needed to return, which I did. But I am grateful for that break as it taught me to value myself, it rekindled my passion for my old job. I returned to work by choice and today I am much happier,” says Singh.

The hardworking urban professional, who is always on call and never off the grid, the kind who will place deadline before desire, is beginning to slow down. Like Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who took a break to “introspect”, she would rather press pause and re-energise. Her favourite word is sabbatical.

But months off from work do not always a sabbatical make. Pune-based restaurateur Adarsh Hegde says there is no such thing as a minimum time-off. Since the last few years, he has taken sabbaticals that lasted as long as a couple of weeks. Each break was designed to give him a chance to learn a new skill.

The first came three years ago in the form of a trip to Thailand. “I went to learn kickboxing and martial arts. They have a set-up in Tiger Muay Thai, a residential academy near Phuket for mixed martial arts,” says Hegde. “I had only myself to depend on and I learnt to trust my own skills and abilities. In a place which was so remote, away from phones and everyday restaurant problems, I got in touch with my inner strength,” he says.

The next sabbatical was spent doing a scuba-diving beginner’s course in Lakshwadeep, followed by a longer time on the island. “When you are underwater, you have to learn to control your breathing, your nerves and your body. It taught me patience. I am a much calmer person now,” he says.

While Hegde and Singh returned to their old work schedules, Dhwani Ganjawala, a 27-year-old from Mumbai, found it difficult to go back to her old life. An advertising graduate, she walked out of college and into a job, until she left for a design course at the Chicago Portfolio School. But rather than lead up to something exciting, she came back to her old job and worked for three years. Till she had to stop. “I started getting nauseous and felt the need to get out. Do more with my life, do what I wanted to. I wasn’t getting younger. So I spoke to my boss and went on a six-month sabbatical,” she says. There was one difference: Ganjawala decided she would have no plans. “That was the best part. I opened myself up to all opportunities. I didn’t have to go looking for them. If someone said, ‘Let’s learn kitesurfing’, I’d do it, if someone would volunteer in a village, I’d go along,” she says.

From backpacking across Europe on a tight budget, to eating from food trucks to a 10-day vipassana course, from travelling on a shoe-string budget to Ladakh to sleeping on the Tuticorin beach, from taking flying trapeze classes in Brooklyn to trekking in Cinque Terre, she did it all. At the end of six months, she says she couldn’t bring herself to go back to her old job. So, she started a company called The Sabbatical, which helps people go on theirs.

But going on such breaks do need a lot of planning. You cannot simply pack your bags and leave. A few years ago, Sauraj Jhingan had quit his job at a multi-national bank and started a travel company, inspired by his love for the outdoors. But the finances didn’t work out and he had to return to the 9-5 grind.

Two years later though, he was better prepared. He left his job as an HR manager and went on a climbing trip to Mount Everest. “Sabbaticals can change the course of your life. You could go back to your job or your experiences might give you a new direction. But they need planning and careful thought. Because a badly planned one may leave you with nothing,” says Jhingan.