Take Time Off…You’ll Be Surprised What Happens
By Jay W. Vogt
When planning a six-month sabbatical sojourn to Mexico,
I came across a book called The Grown-Up’s
Guide to Running Away from Home. Sneaking
away from a thriving consulting practice did feel a bit
like running away from home, in search of adventure. Ever
hear that call of the road? Well, I answered that call,
and here is how doing so changed my life, and that of my
wife and daughter.
Remember how Alice felt when she fell through the rabbit
hole? Or how Dorothy felt when she landed in Oz? Taking
up residence in a new house, in a third world country, speaking
a different language, eating different food, doing completely
different things each day, in a new climate, felt like that.
Our base was San Miguel de Allende, on the high desert plateau
of Mexico, but it could have been any of the many strange,
wonderful places far from home.
My goals were simple. I wanted to study Spanish, write,
explore Mexico, and enjoy my family. I wanted enough free
time to become bored, so then I’d have to rediscover
what really interested me. I didn’t want to have to
jump when my clients called (or when a deadline loomed),
so I didn’t give them my number.
As a self-employed person, I can tell you almost exactly
how much this sabbatical cost me in lost revenues (a lot,
incidentally). But what did it yield in return? What did
we learn, and how did it change us?
Our Family Got Closer
You know those cute little kids who run away from you at
the playground, and then turn back to see if you’re
still looking? Well, our daughter was the kind of kid who
never looked back. She just kept running! Very independent.
She keeps her own company, but leans on us more when we
travel. So while she turned thirteen in Mexico, when most
kids are really pushing their parents away, we got closer.
My wife and I partnered on some projects that came up (more
on that in a moment), which gave a whole new dimension to
our relationship. Plus we finally spoke together in Spanish,
which she speaks like a native, for the first time.
We Became Global Citizens
My wife, though European-American, was born and raised
in Mexico. So going on this sabbatical brought her back
to her roots. She renewed her expired Mexican passport,
and got one for our daughter. We introduced our daughter
to her Mexican cousins. My daughter discovered her gift
with languages, and now she wants to live abroad in Spain
and in France. I wonder which passport she’ll use.
Meanwhile, I achieved a lifetime goal of becoming conversational
in a foreign language (okay, the goal was to become fluent,
but this language thing is hard!).
We Fell in Love with the Place
San Miguel is a beautiful historic meeting place of cultures,
high in the desert, set amid mountains, where the arts and
culture flourish. It is a gorgeous Spanish Colonial town
with a very livable climate. We loved the place! We met
many maverick expatriates who had taken the plunge and moved
there, and were living great lives. Plus we saw how whatever
retirement income you have goes a lot farther in Mexico.
So we came away with an attractive vision of an active,
affordable retirement that both surprised and inspired us.
We Took on Unplanned Projects
In our case, we bought a ruin, just like the people in
those “Year in Provence” stories. It was not
our intention—far from it. We just caught the bug.
Real estate was popping in this town, and we’ve bought
and sold houses before. So we beefed up our equity credit
line, bought a ruin in the historic center, hired a builder,
got permits, and started building a home. Then we bought
another lot, to build and sell a house to pay for the first.
And then we bought another lot and built another house,
because land and building were cheap and fun, we loved our
builder, and, I suppose, because we just couldn’t
help ourselves. When the dust settled, we had a big beautiful
old house with an income apartment pretty much debt free,
and several parties’ worth of stories. By the way,
most of the building happened after we got home.
My Spiritual Life Deepened
One of my favorite things to do in San Miguel was to run
in the desert outside of town. Every other day I would run
for an hour, a mile high, through the cactus and fields.
It was a spare time of quiet action, where I felt essential
and close to nature. One of the things that bubbled up on
these runs, and throughout my stay in Mexico, was poetry.
I wrote a chapbook of about forty poems during my stay,
all arrows straight from the heart.
Mexican people tend to be a big-hearted bunch, and many
are close to God and Death. My wife and I learned a simple
yet powerful meditation technique, called Ascension, which
is popular there and that brings forth love, praise, gratitude,
and compassion. We might have stumbled across it in the
States, but we would have been too busy to give it a fair
try. It helps us find a calm center and vibrate love and
gratitude on a moment-to-moment basis, and finding that
alone made the trip worth taking.
The Hole in My Business
What did my clients make of this adventure? First, five
years into my practice building, my wife and I took five
months off and made a bare bones trip around the world,
mostly in Asia, before kids. So I had already walked away
from my clients once before, and lived to tell the tale.
I had a trusted associate tell me to my face that I was
committing economic suicide, but he was wrong. It was more
like pruning a plant: thin for a while, then lots of new
growth. The same thing happened again this time.
Before that round-the-world trip, I worried more that my
clients would think me irresponsible, leaving them in the
lurch, and all that. But a strange thing happened. When
I would tell them apprehensively what we were planning to
do, instead of getting angry, they would get a wistful look
in their eyes, and say, “I’ve always wanted
to do something like that. Good for you!” They respected
me more, not less, for having the gumption to get out and
go. The same thing happened again this time.
Once your clients are on your team, many will go out of
their way to postpone work until your return, and help in
countless other little ways. And they all want to get together
with you for lunch to hear stories upon your return, which
jump-starts your marketing! I lost revenues for sure, both
during the sabbatical, and on the shoulders on either side,
but I didn’t lose any clients I wasn’t ready
to let go of anyway.
The Shadow
I could keep going, but those are the main things. We used
to tell people that taking a six-month sabbatical cast a
big shadow, meaning the impending trip caused us to plan
and save for years before hand. Once we returned, though,
we realized the shadow cast forward too. The sabbatical
enriched our lives in ways that continue, moment-to-moment,
and will for years to come.
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Jay W. Vogt is an organizational development
consultant who works with mission-driven clients. He founded
his private practice, Peoplesworth,
in 1982. Contact him at jay@peoplesworth.com.
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