You might have read my article last week about taking a sabbatical (if you missed it, you can access it here). I’ve received several responses from women who were nodding their heads in agreement. It seems many women are feeling the call to take a break so that they can think and feel and make decisions from a more honest place inside of themselves.

But there are things that can get in the way of even thinking that it’s possible for you to take a sabbatical. Fear around finances, guilt around resting, a rigid conviction that everything will fall apart if you aren’t there to keep everything glued together, and even believing that a sabbatical has to look a certain way can – all of these can definitely throw a wrench into believing that taking time to rest and recalibrate is even possible for you.

I think it’s important to share here that a sabbatical can look like many different things. The beauty of taking a leave of absence is the opportunity that it creates for you to determine how and where your time and energy are spent.

Traditionally, a sabbatical is 2-months to 1-year in length, and is often created with a very clear outcome and goal, or with the completion of a new creative project in mind. For many, this kind of a sabbatical is the perfect answer to creating the space and time needed to propel a career or professional life forward. But for others, this way of thinking about a sabbatical isn’t reasonable, possible, practical, or even preferable.

From my vantage point, we’ve become so goal driven that we believe that the purpose of life is to achieve and accomplish as much as possible. But honestly, that sounds a lot like being a slave to your life. That kind of thinking doesn’t allow much space or time for the things that light you up and connect you with the vast universe of pleasure, passion and potential that lives inside of you.

Have you ever noticed that some (if not all) of your greatest epiphanies and creative ideas have come to you in moments of deep relaxation, delight, and when you’re really living in the present moment? It’s when you have enough breathing room, when you have the space to think and dream and feel, and when you drop into a state of leisurely focus that magic makes it’s grand entrance.

This is where the incredible value of taking a sabbatical really lives. You can’t force magic, and you can’t schedule an epiphany. You must create the space for them to come into your life. Life feels far more succulent and juicy when you do!

To get your creative juices flowing, and to address any objections you might have about the possibility of taking a sabbatical, here are 9 different ideas about what a hiatus could look like for you. My intention in sharing these with you is to help you consider, from a guilt and fear-free place inside of yourself, how you can take a sabbatical for yourself this year.

1. Take a moment and think about all of the different roles you play in your life – both personal and professional. It’s a long list, isn’t it? What if you could plan to take a sabbatical from a role that you know you need a break from? This might include roles like: doing the grocery shopping, preparing family meals, being the laundry maven, cleaning your home, being the planner for your personal or family adventures and vacations, running errands, shuttling kids from school to sports to appointments to lessons, responding to your daily emails, scheduling appointments and/or clients into your calendar, and so forth.

   What if you chose to delegate a role of your choosing to someone else in the family or in your life, hire out support if that’s an option for you, or let some things go for simplification’s sake, without lowering your standards? What opens up in your life if you aren’t the one (or the only one) doing all of these things, all of the time?

2. You may crave a sabbatical from your professional life, or a particular aspect within your professional life. For many women, the idea of this might feel impossible, or like it’s a big career no-no. But really, the opportunity that is here for you is to come home to yourself a bit more, stop the endless burning of the candle at both ends, and to re-invite your feminine self back into how you operate within your professional world.

   It’s so easy to unknowingly create a professional life that’s based on something that worked well for someone else, something that you think you should be doing, something that’s being driven by low self-esteem and a feeling of worthlessness, something that’s being played out for passion-less financial reasons only, or something that’s feeding an inner competitive part of you that just wants to do something to prove that you’re as good as, or better than, someone else.

   There’s nothing wrong with being very goal-driven and achievement oriented – in fact, it’s a way of operating that works very well for most men in the world. However, you are a woman, and as such, you have to bring along your pleasure-loving, desire-driven, soul-nurturing self, too! Otherwise, you’ll end up in that all-too-common territory of burnout and resentment. I’ve been there, and I don’t recommend it.

   What would it be like to really chart a course for yourself that honors who you really are and what you love? That allows you to bring your gifts out into the world in a way that only you can? That creates incredible freedom, happiness and soul-satisfaction – without adrenal exhaustion and auto-immune disorders – that can only come from slowing down enough to feel your way forward?

   Taking a sabbatical from your professional life might look like simplifying your business strategy, letting go of the projects and programs that no longer feel good to you, and creating a lot of space to think, feel, dream and write. It might look like taking a creative break – for whatever length of time you think is necessary (it might be longer than you think it should take…) – so that you can explore some new avenues for yourself, write your book, or dive more deeply into the things that you love and find a way to bring those into your existing professional world. It might look like relying on any passive income streams that you have created so that you can take a break from working directly with other companies or clients and just have the space to follow whatever lights you up on the inside and makes you smile from ear to ear.

   This kind of sabbatical can feel like the scariest of them all because it can feel like you’re no longer in control and that things will completely fall apart if you’re not there. But I’d like to offer a slightly different perspective…What if taking some time and space for yourself could allow things to fall together and reorganize in a divinely perfect way that you couldn’t have imagined on your own?

   Food for thought…

3. Another idea for a sabbatical is to press the pause button on your life for the purpose of experiencing a different location, culture and/or lifestyle for yourself. This kind of sabbatical is most easily experienced when travel is included, but it can be done by staying put, too. It just requires a bit more creativity and ingenuity!If you’ve done any travel – whether it’s international or in your own country, you’re aware that it becomes very obvious, very quickly, that your life and the choices you make on a daily basis is truly a reflection of where you live. Your wardrobe alone changes drastically depending on your location, the climate, and how you spend your time.

   Taking a sabbatical from your usual rhythm, routine and location is a powerful way to really switch up the energy of your life. Sometimes you need some distance from the pressure and demands that have become your everyday normal. For example, I live at an altitude of over 5,000 feet (a mile in the sky, to be more exact). When I travel to places that are closer to sea level my lungs say a huge thank you. It turns out that oxygen rich air is really a wonderful thing! If I never traveled to other places, I wouldn’t even know the difference, and I wouldn’t have an awareness that living at altitude can sometimes feel taxing on my body.

   Another way to look at this kind of sabbatical is to recognize that life can get really messy, and sometimes you find yourself in places that are so far from what you thought your life was going to look and feel like. Other times, things are just slightly “off-kilter” and need some tweaking to look and feel right again. Taking a sabbatical from your life in this way can really offer you some incredible insights that can make all of the difference in how you choose to move forward. You are writing your own story, after all!

4. I’m going to offer a unique idea here around taking a certain kind of sabbatical – one that you might never have considered before or thought possible. What I’m talking about is taking a sabbatical from the expectations, “that’s-just-the-way-it-is” mentality, and the pressures that you put on yourself to adhere to a particular belief system or way of living.

   There are so many things that we assume are “normal”, or what everyone – or at least the “right” kind of people – do or think or believe. But in fact, by the age of 6 or 7 you have unknowingly adopted most of the beliefs, stories and fears that you carry around with you. These were taken on from the culture around you, your family and how they think about and do things, the religion you grew up being exposed to, and more.

   As scary, taboo, or just plain odd as it might sound, what would it be like to set some of that aside for a period of time, knowing that at a time of your choosing, you could return to it or them if you wanted to?

   Many of the beliefs, attitudes, and stories about life that you’ve always adhered to are likely serving you very well. But what if you’ve become aware that they are starting to limit you and the potential that lives inside of you? What if you could take a sabbatical from these ideas, beliefs, and ways of operating in the world for a period of time? What might that open up for you?

   This might feel really edgy or unappealing to you, or it might be the very thing you’ve been longing for. The idea with this kind of sabbatical is to give yourself the opportunity to find more peace and spaciousness inside of yourself, and to try on what it’s like to live your life when you’re no longer tolerating things feel like they limit, restrict, or control you.

   You can take this kind of sabbatical from a place inside of yourself where you aren’t compromising who you are, how you value and treat yourself, how you honor and relate to others, and who you are as a woman.

   This can look like learning to be more loving and appreciative for what IS in your life, instead of holding on to a belief that things should be different, or have to be different in order for you to be happy, content, and at peace in your life. This can look like taking a sabbatical from complaining – just choosing NOT to complain about anything for a period of time. This can also look like letting go of a particular belief system, or even something like a church or place of worship because it no longer feels like it truly allows you to connect with the Divine in a way that truly serves who you are as a woman, and what you know you are here to experience.

   What could become possible for you if you chose to take a sabbatical in this way?

5. You can take a sabbatical with the intention of experiencing something you’ve always wanted to, like learning a foreign language or a taking an art class. You could choose to become a culinary wizard, a French pastry master, an opera singer, or an orchid whisperer. There are so many ways you could choose to use the time and space that a sabbatical can provide!

   Sometimes life is just so FULL that the experiences and opportunities that really make life fun, interesting, and colorful get squeezed out! Taking a sabbatical to make deliberate space for that auto repair workshop you really want to take, that yoga teacher training in Costa Rica you’ve had your eye on, or to attend design school to fulfill that life long dream you’ve had of creating your very own shoe line… sometimes you have to stop everything and declare that those dreams – wherever they may lead – are a priority for you in this lifetime, too!

6. I love the idea of taking a sabbatical to clean and clear out – with great awareness and intention – all of the clutter and old stuff that’s taking up space in your life. You could include your physical body in this process, and decide that you’re going to take a sabbatical to radically simplify, clarify and streamline every thing.

   Sometimes pressing the restart button is the most fantastic thing you can do for yourself. Unburdening yourself from a lot of superfluous stuff – especially if it’s just collecting dust or creating guilt because you’re not using it or enjoying it – can do a lot to improve your mental clarity, your emotional health, your energy levels and your attitude.

   What if you chose to take a long weekend, a week, or even an entire month (*gasp!*) to get externally and internally organized in your life? Consider how much time and energy it takes to manage a life that is disorganized, chaotic, and at the brink of falling apart. What if you took some very deliberate time to change this trajectory, to raise your standards, to stop merely “getting by” in life by the skin of your teeth, and instead make your life feel luxuriously convenient, reliably functional, and beautifully comfortable?

   Oh, the possibilities!

7. I love the idea of taking a sabbatical to consciously create something new in your life or your business. I know many women take a sabbatical late in pregnancy and extend that time off into motherhood (for some it’s a week, and for others it’s years). But what if your creation is something like writing your book, or painting your masterpiece, or creating a body of work that you not only adore, but changes lives for the better and earns you thousands along the way?

   Taking a break from your usual responsibilities opens up space in your life, and you can choose to fill that space with really anything you desire (or leave that space as space… just a thought 😉 This space can often be the very thing that you need to step into a new level of thinking inside of yourself. And from that place, you might be amazed at what wants to be created through you.

8. There’s a kind of sabbatical that I see many women talking about today, and it’s one that I’ve personally taken for myself more than once. I’m talking about taking a sabbatical from social media, electronics, and all of the ways your attention gets routinely pulled away from the present moment and your immediate experience. I see people posting things on Facebook about taking a social media fast, and I think it’s not only a brilliant idea, but also an important consideration in today’s age of fast information and instant gratification.

   The relentless speed at which we receive information can actually feel like an onslaught to your nervous system. But when you’re constantly exposed to it, inevitably it leads to a subtle, or not so subtle, state of numbness and disembodiment, which can begin to make life seem colorless, lackluster and unexciting unless there something extreme happens to shake us out of our doldrums.

   I moved to Colorado in 2000, and lived without a television for 6 years. When I was exposed to television again after that hiatus I was amazed and stunned at how fast and furious and extreme everything had become. It really did feel like my nervous system was being assaulted!

   I took this kind of sabbatical a step further when I did a 17-day green juice and technology fast in 2008. It was truly astounding how much nervous energy I’d unknowingly stored in my body. Unwinding and detoxing all of that out of my body was just as intense as drinking cucumber-celery juice for 2 weeks! When that fast was complete, it literally felt like I’d pushed a giant reset button on my body and my nervous system. Colors and smells and tastes were so much brighter and powerful.

   I highly recommend this kind of sabbatical from technology if you want to reconnect with your divine and sensual self. You don’t have to go anywhere (unless you want to), you can catch up on your reading list, and you can tap into an incredible source of power and pleasure that has likely gone dormant inside of you.

9. My final idea for taking a much needed rest in your life is to take a mama sabbatical. Let me be clear that this is NOT abandoning your kid(s), but it IS about coming home to yourself. Ever since you started imagining the little one that joined your family how ever long ago, life was never the same! And if you’re anything like nearly every mother I know (I include myself in this one), you love that little creature so much that you give and give and give until there is really nothing left for yourself, your passions, and the things that turn you on and excite you.Being a mother is an amazing experience, but the things that actually make us GREAT mothers include taking regularly scheduled time for just ourselves – to nourish ourselves, fill up our own tanks, give ourselves the much needed space we require, give our kid(s) the space they require to stretch, grow and explore the world, and to feel ourselves so that we stay in touch with what we truly need.

   What could a mama sabbatical look like? I have a dear friend who, on a not-so-regular basis, plans for her parents to come into town to help her husband out with the kids for a weekend. She then ceremoniously checks herself into a local hotel with a spa and fantastic room service where she proceeds to read 2-3 novels, takes baths and naps like it’s her job, and books herself a minimum of 2 spa services over the course of her weekend stay.

   The results? She’s a superbly rested, nurtured, beautified, and renewed woman who can’t wait to get home to love up on her kids and her hubby and step proudly and passionately back into her role as the loving, present, resilient, funny, will-do-nearly-anything-for-her-kids mama that she wants to be. She has let go of the never-ending pressures that come with being a mother to take care of herself in whatever way she sees fit, and to fill herself back up with things that bring her into a state of pleasure and peace.

   Here’s the other important, often overlooked piece around this kind of a sabbatical: As one of my mentors so powerfully pointed out to me, our children don’t grow up and care for themselves the way we care for them. No. No they don’t. They grow up and care for themselves the way we care for ourselves because they learn by example.

   By demonstrating the importance of taking care of yourself, you’re actually teaching your kid(s) to take time to nourish, refuel, and most importantly feel themselves. Now that’s a sabbatical well spent!

There is something incredibly powerful that happens inside of a woman when she gives herself permission to slow down and FEEL herself and her life. We’re so often under the assumption that something “big” has to happen for us to have a breakthrough in our lives, or for something to change. But what I’ve discovered in my recent hiatus is that if you want to enliven, enrich, and elevate yourself or some aspect of your life, you really need not look any further than your beautiful, delightful, sensually wise self.

As a woman, your power lies in your ability to surrender to the myriad ways that pleasure can bring you home to yourself. And pleasure can best be experienced when you slow down and savor it! Seriously, your immune system will perk up, your creativity will skyrocket, the aging process of your body will slow down, and your beauty and feminine power will be brought to new heights.

To be clear, some sabbaticals might be a year in length, or even longer. But some could be as little as a weekend, a week, or slightly more. The idea is for you to create the circumstance and time frame for yourself where you can be very conscientious and deliberate about what you’re pouring your time and energy into.

What’s taking up a lot of room in your life today that you’d like to claim back for yourself? What are you ready to let go of because it no longer serves who you are, where you’re going, and what you know you’re being called into next? What are you ready to bring into your life (if anything) because you know it will deeply support your joy, fulfillment and happiness?

The promise of a sabbatical, and of rest itself, is that it will allow the energy that is usually being directed in a particular way or direction – often towards your professional life, your responsibilities, or even your obligations – to be refocused and channeled toward yourself and wherever you want it to go.

And really, if you take a step back from this conversation to look at what becomes possible in your life when you slow down, feel, get some perspective, listen to how you’re being guided forward, I think it’s easy to see why taking a sabbatical, whatever that might look like for you, is truly a necessity that every modern woman requires.

What does this conversation bring up for you? I want to hear from you! Do you still believe that you can’t take a sabbatical, or that it’s somehow impossible for you? Have you been inspired by what I’ve shared here? Leave me your thoughts below!