Today is my first day post-sabbatical, getting back in the swing of things withAutomattic.W.org, all thethings. What a unique experience! I found the lead up to the sabbatical and planning process to be infinitely valuable, the sabbatical itself to be interesting experentially, and I’m curious to see what the post-sabbatical effects are. I have that nervous excitement like it’s the first day of school, which I haven’t felt in years.What should I wear? Who will sit with me at lunch?
I could nowgive a much better talk about the value of sabbaticals, having finally done one myself vs observing the hundreds that have taken place at Automattic. Like having a kid, it’s something you can understand intellectually but the direct experience is profound in ways that are hard to articulate.
There’s so much to catch up on and it’s kind of delightful to check in on progress of things after a few months rather than day-to-day like I normally do. If I had one bit of advice it would be to not get a big surgery (I had a sinus one) or plan for other major health things during a sabbatical, that should be on a different track if you can help it.
Atthe beginningI allowed myself two goals around sailing and chess. Sailing I decided to postpone to take advantage of a peak opportunity in July,but chess has been a fun incorporation into my daily habits and also incredibly humbling playing with folks who have been at it longer. The thing I didn’t plan for that became actually really important to me was getting back to the saxophone,not even trying to perform but the ritual and zen of long tones and practice is incredibly grounding in a way I didn’t know I was missing.
A few bullet point highlights:
Rowed to Alcatraz.
Got Covid the 4th time.
Went to Super Bowl.
Spent time at my alma mata University of Houston.
Toured the modern cathedrals of datacenters.
Did a ton of health scans, blood tests, doctor meetings.
Also, there was actually a lot of Automattic stuff happening most notably theacquisition of Beeper! I wasn’t able to unplug as much as I hoped, but I did definitely reverse my normal priorities. One thing I really missed was that I had very high hopes to see a lot of people, but a lot of stuff came up so outside of the events it was probably smaller social circle than I normally have.
It does make me think about apophatic theology orhow Nassim Taleb talks aboutvia negativa. Whatever you’ve been doing, it’s nice to try the opposite for a while, just to see what happens.
Welcome back! As an Automattician looking forward to my first sabbatical this year, I’ve been paying careful attention to how other people do theirs, in source of inspiration.
It’s nice to see – through this post – sabbatical experiences shared from a wider circle of the company than I’d otherwise have paid attention to! So thanks!
If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re always, always learning, and now you are learning how to do a sabbatical, and what you would want to prioritize (and de-prioritize) for next time — super interesting stuff! (Also I want to learn how to sail!)