Rest, Don’t Quit
The Case for Sabbaticals: Small and Large
I took a sabbatical from Avalanche Creative for the month of November.
It wasn't particularly premeditated, but a variety of factors in work and personal life contributed to making the call in mid-October. It’s been a tough year in business, and I’m unraveling from a battle with postpartum depression after having my second child last year.
My husband/business partner, Lance, and I have hustled hard since Spring to turn things around at Avalanche, and we have. But it came at a cost. Running myself ragged trying to carry the morale of the team and completely restructure how we operate while battling my own demons drained me to the core, and it was starting to affect my marriage and mental health.
My mom also had surgery in early November, and I wanted to be there for her and take care of my kids on the one day a week they normally go to Grandma’s house. I’m finding myself entering the sandwich generation, caring for both aging parents and young kids of my own.
Running a business is hard. Running a business with your spouse is really hard. Running a business with your spouse while raising two toddlers and navigating family demands is really, really hard.
I've heard the phrase, "rest, don't quit," in the context of exercise, and it applies to work, too. As I got to the point where I felt like I wanted to quit Avalanche (and I actually did try, but it's hard to quit a business that you co-own with your spouse), Lance encouraged me to rest instead.
I recognize that I am in an incredibly privileged place to be able to take a month off, and I am so grateful that I was able to:
→ Spend more time with my kids.
→ Start a new blog/side project.
→ Start writing a fiction book, just for fun.
→ Get my creative juices flowing again.
→ Go to therapy, journal, and do a lot of introspection.
→ Slow down.
It took less than a week of my sabbatical for my perspective to start changing. As I sat in front of my laptop trying to create this very website from scratch, I remembered how hard it is to start something brand new. No team, no brand equity, no revenue, no strategic plan. Just a blinking cursor.
As I spent the days when my kids weren’t at daycare working in solitude, I missed my team.
As I coached my friends through job-hunting after they recently got laid off, I appreciated that I have a business that is making me money and allowing me to have flexibility in my schedule.
And as I eased back into work at the beginning of December, I had a renewed perspective and sense of gratitude for Avalanche, our team, our clients, the life this company has afforded me, and all of the work we've put in to get to where we are.
As the classic Dave Ramsey quote goes, “Live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else.” I am finding myself making the transition to the back half of that quote, and it comes with a strange level of guilt and imposter syndrome. What right do I have to have everything I’ve always wanted?
It has been helpful to reflect on all of the struggles I’ve faced and the obstacles I’ve overcome to get where I am today. I’m grateful for how hard younger me worked so that present me can enjoy the fruits of my labor. I often don’t feel deserving of my success, despite the fact that I built a business with no experience, connections, or capital. Just some good old-fashioned naivete and an obsession with achieving goals.
I vastly underestimated the value of taking time off that's not for travel or a holiday or a planned event. My employees do this all the time. They take a week off to hang out at home just because they have the PTO. As an owner, I find it hard to justify taking time off from work if I’m not traveling or keeping the kids home from daycare.
Yet I'm amazed at how different I felt after just the first week, and I will definitely be putting some mini-sabbaticals on my 2026 Vision Board. Taking a week-long sabbatical once a quarter or even twice a year feels like a realistic commitment, and I now know how valuable it is.
Another aspect that led to this decision was a podcast interview I listened to about “mini-retirements.” I am currently on track to reach FI/RE by my early 40s. I am excited to attain financial independence and have full authority over my time, but the reality is that I have been hustling hard for my whole adult life to be able to achieve that milestone. What makes me think that I will easily settle into purposeless days when I’ve been operating in high productivity mode for all of these years? The podcast emphasizes the need to “practice” retirement - both to see if you’ll even like it and to learn how to reshape your mindset around purpose and designing your day-to-day life.
Taking a month to “try out” retirement was an interesting practice. In the beginning, it felt incredibly uncomfortable. By the end, I had established some new rhythms and found joy in doing things for fun rather than for a productive outcome. It did take intentionality and practice to get there, though, and I realize the value in continuing to flex these muscles and discover the things that will help me feel fulfilled in different ways once I’m not trading hours for money.
Whether it’s to recover from burnout, find a new perspective, or practice retirement, there are many cases for sabbaticals, small and large. I, for one, will be incorporating them into my routine in 2026 and beyond.
