Comments on: the whole life sabbatical (part 1 of 3)

By: The Writer’s Coin » Blog Archive » Switching Jobs and Taking Time Off

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:28:27 +0000

[...] you’re interested in the topic, Brip Blap has a great series on sabbaticals over on his [...]

By: Weekly Round Up - Prosper Blog Edition

Weekly Round Up - Prosper Blog Edition — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:00:43 +0000

[...] Blap has a series going on – The Whole Life Sabbatical. Also be sure to read part 2 and part [...]

By: The Friday Gathering for 3/14/2008

The Friday Gathering for 3/14/2008 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:40:53 +0000

[...] the whole life sabbatical from brip blap – Steve talks about walking away from all of life’s commitments and responsibilities. This is a very interesting and thoughtful series that helps you think through what’s important, what’s not and whether you could just walkaway. [...]

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:23:53 +0000

@Bubelah: That’s a good example – even though you didn’t THINK those friends were negative influences on you, they were, because you spent so much time and effort trying to force those friendships. I thought at the time – and still do – that it was a good idea

@Curmudgeon: If you’ve walk away from gainful employment, you’re a lot more carefree than most people – a lot of people have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from jobs they HATE, much less ones that simply don’t fulfill their life goals. And yes, just walking away doesn’t guarantee that you’ll avoid a situation like that again (as t h rive pointed out). But I think you have a better chance the second time, don’t you?

@t h rive: Research would be key, that’s for sure. Walking away from the heroin scene to the crystal meth scene wouldn’t be the kind of “walking away from it” I had in mind, for sure.

@guinness416: I haven’t seen “Into The Wild” yet, but my guess from commercials is that “walking away from your responsibilities” is to “Into the Wild” as “police procedural” is to “The Departed.” It’s the same thing, but taken to the Nth degree…

I think everyone has that fantasy at time to time… although it would have to be a pretty big lottery win to afford Mustique, wouldn’t it?

@plonkee: I agree completely. A phrase you hear every now and then is “you can’t choose your family,” but I disagree completely. You can choose your family. It’s nice if they happen to be people biologically related to you, or related through a marriage/civil union/etc. but frankly your family can be made up of anyone you choose. And I don’t think it’s a different degree, really. Too much is made of blood relations. I have plenty of friends who are closer to me than some of my relatives (admittedly the slightly more distant relatives – but you get my point).

By: plonkee

plonkee — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:54:11 +0000

This reminds me of the 70s BBC comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, where he abandons everything, only to end up with it all again anyway.

I’d add that your family doesn’t necessarily have to be relatives, for some people their friends are their family. Whilst it might be easier to abandon your friends, it’s still the same thing, but at a different degree.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:50:02 +0000

Seen “Into The Wild” yet?

An Irish acquaintance of mine had a brother who did this – he literally walked away one day from family (he had no spouse or kids though), job, city and friends. They found out a few months later that he was still alive, had started a life somewhere else and didn’t seem to have suffered a breakdown to the extent of requiring hospitalization or anything. He never really came back. The whole thing kind of wrecked the immediate family, it was a very strange and sad situation to be on the fringes of.

I still fantasize about winning the lottery and just stepping on a plane to Mustique though! I’d bring my husband along for the ride but imagine my colleagues and neighbours saying “whatever happened to guinness416?”

By: t h rive

t h rive — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:50:35 +0000

Interesting topic. I’ve known someone who ‘walked away’, or at least tried to. The problem was that she walked into a very similar situation which she was in at the previous city. Just with a different crowd around her. I think she blamed her surroundings and tried to leave it.

Soon enough her old defunct boyfriend had joined her in her ‘new’ location, little did she know the drug scene there was just as big, if not bigger, and she’s back to sleeping through her job because of her same old habits.

ADVICE: if you’re going to walk away, do your RESEARCH and follow through with it! (i guess…)

By: fathersez

fathersez — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:31:48 +0000

I share Deepali’s views.

Really curious to see where you are going with this.

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:15:53 +0000

From a rational standpoint (and that’s not to say such decisions are made rationally), it seems like the only reason to do this is as the end result of a series of bad life decisions that are difficult or impossible to unwind – bad marriage, bankruptcy, prison time – that sort of thing. But many people who are in these positions manage to unwind successfully (and many who never make the attempt). I wonder if simply walking away leaves you open to making the same bad decisions yet again.

Except for gainful employment, I’ve never felt the desire to walk away from any aspect of my life.

By: Bubelah

Bubelah — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:12:23 +0000

I “walked away” from some of my old friends. Or at least I thought they were friends but then realize that I am just wasting my time and effort to keep in touch. No, nothing bad happened, nice enough, pleasant people. People that I walked away from are the people that I didn’t much enjoy hanging out with, saw no moral support from, etc. Instead I decided to focus on my few but strong friendships. It, actually, made me feel less anxious to please, happier, calmer and freed up my schedule.
This is just one of the paths to walk away from something. Someone mentioned “stuff”! Totally agree. Slowly doing that too. It’s liberating.