Sabba, Sabba Hey

I have been away for a while, on what felt like a sabbatical. It was not long enough to be a true sabbatical.  A sabbatical is typically from two months to a year. Instead I went on what I'm calling a mini sabbatical, a Sabba, if you will.

It was officially a 10-day vacation matched with a 3-day stint away from the office at training.   During this time I had the opportunity to have some new experiences (e.g.,the San Mateo Bridge/Causeway), see things I've never seen before (e.g., Frank Roche's doppelganger) and to expand upon what I think I know (e.g., French Impressionism/Franco-Prussia War). And I had fun too ...

To go on Sabba, it was a bit difficult. I typically have very full days between work, my family/friends, my social media life and myself. To take vacation days from work, clearly work is the first to go to the back burner.  But it was necessary to close the valve of my social media life too so all that remained was a trickle.  As I traveled about, I tweeted where I was on Foursquare and answered a few tweets.  I posted once on WTTO very quickly about being cranky on my birthday. I answered one email.  And I did not read one single blog post, even from those that I'm close.  I did not really tweet until last Thursday's HR Happy Hour (which by the way was worth coming out of the woodwork for).

As a result, during my Sabba I felt I was able to spend some quality time not just with my partner, but myself and my friends. And I think that is what I was looking for this time around from my time away.  I wanted to experience something more from the people I know. I wanted my brain to move out of the space it was in and away from my computer. I wanted to not just turn off. I wanted to turn on and towards something else.

So here's some advice from your friendly neighborhood blogger: always take a vacation.  If you have the time and resources, go one step further and go on a sabbatical. But if you don't (and who does) go on a Sabba.  Take your vacation days and don't just turn off...turn on to something else.

Right before my time away, someone shared this wonderful video of renowned graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister's story of his actual sabbatical.  I found it quite inspiring.  I thought if I could just capture just a fragment of his experience, my time away would be a success.  I'm quite pleased to report that I believe I did.