Quantifying the 'Sabbatical'

While my posts have all been very positive, I can’t deny that sometimes I question this experience. When I hear friends talk about what they’ve done in the past few months (ie: work, be promoted, finish school, etc.) I start to wonder if this ‘sabbatical/job hunting experience’ was really the smartest path (and many who have been with me in this process knows this is an understatement). There are so many reasons not to do this BUT I think that the reasons to take this risk at this point in my life outnumber and frankly weigh heavier than the reasons not to. 

After reading Seth Godin’s blog, I have started to just equate this self doubt with my ‘lizard brain’ who will tell me all the reasons I can’t, I shouldn’t, and why I will ultimately fail. The lizard also causes me to procrastinate and not take action because of a fear of rejection. However, taking a risk like this causes one to realize that the lizard is just a lizard. I am not saying that, like Charlie Sheen, I am a tiger but I am saying that a big part of this trip has been personal growth and learning to grab the lizard by the tail and tell it to shut up. That there is a difference between self-doubt and the instinct inside your head that what you are doing is really off track (a lizard of a different color perhaps?), it is just a matter of separating the two. Besides, all risks involve some kind of fear, otherwise they wouldn't actually be risks.

I am trying to be consciously aware of my lizard and his voice is now significantly quieter than a few months ago. At this moment in time, risk is OK and necessary. 

On top of this I am trying to look at the trip objectively as its own experience. An adventure, an opportunity to learn (and not just a language), and reminder that even though I don’t have diplomatic immunity I am still an ambassador. Even if I don't come away with a dream job, I will have had one hell of a time!

But just for the sake of practicing the explanation of the time lapse in my CV, I’ve taken inspiration from another blogger (yes, I do read a lot of blogsJ) who is on her own job hunt and the struggle to discuss the ‘unemployed period’ with her peers. Everyone works, so one without a job starts to feel like they haven’t been accomplishing as much as his/her peers. Katy Dunnet looked a little deeper and when asked ‘what she had been up to’ she quantified her time through her loss of 25 pounds! That is not a small amount of weight to lose; it takes some serious time and effort. In tribute to this alternative way to look at unemployment holistically, and also because I have always thought it would be entertaining to write a resume that was filled with big and small personal accomplishments as well as ‘life’ objectives (ie: Objective: To work with refugees in a dirty coastal city) I present to you….. (cue line from A Chorus Line “…who am I anyway? Am I my resume?”)the ‘quantified version of the past two months’.

Sabbatical, Tangier

Student, Writer, Ambassador, Volunteer

·         72 hours of intensive French language tutoring; resulting in conversational level of French.

·         18 hours of volunteering in Nursery of Abandoned Babies; feeding, playing, singing.

·         Residency in Islamic country; resulting in greater understanding of culture and religion.

·         3 informational interviews with local NGOs to learn about project objectives, challenges, etc.

·         Visited one project site where an AIDS workshop was given.

·         3 CV ‘Drive-Bys’ in Rabat.

·         12 blogs written about sabbatical.

·         About 4000 pictures of Medersas.

·         Learned to correctly pronounce ‘I love You’ in German.

·         1 ‘Introduction to Calligraphy’ course.