Welcome to My Sabbatical

Six years ago, I was laid off from my job. It was my first time experiencing a layoff and the experience resulted in a lot of feels, a lot of coffees, and a lot of new experiences. I came to lovingly refer to the eight months of unemployment as my sabbatical (sans travel) since it led me to an opportunity that I would’ve never found under normal (employed) circumstances.

I find myself on a sabbatical once again. I’m decidedly mid-career, which is daunting in today’s world (mid-life, amiright?). But it’s also meant that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with many many wonderful people and organizations who are committed to many of the same things I am. I’ve also had time to read books and articles that have been on my reading list for way too long. I am grateful for these experiences.

I’ve been thinking of picking up writing for awhile. I considered writing summaries/tldrs of the new things I’m learning from the people I meet, but I’ve decided that the world has enough of that and I don’t want to be one more person clogging up your LinkedIn feeds.

I want my writing to be a way to share ideas, but I also (selfishly) want it to serve as a reflection tool for me as I move through this sabbatical to my next opportunity (and on and on). Even though I vowed to look out for myself after #sabbatical2019, I dropped the ball a bit over the last few years (as Victor Newman would say, it’s just business).

This space will become my version of weeknotes.

Weeknotes are a format for regular communication about work in progress. They act as a broadcast medium. They give teams and individuals a voice, and a platform for communicating with almost anyone, about the things that matter to both parties - weeknote writer and weeknote reader.

And so, welcome dear readers. Nice to have you here.