Sabbatical and evaluations

Taking that decision to go on a sabbatical can be very tricky on multiple fronts: financial, professional, and personal. One must be honest to do make personal evaluations on their preparedness (most importantly financial preparedness) and also be ready face the evaluations made by the society (friends, family, colleagues, future employers) and be ready with answer to their nagging questions.

Here is a funny incident from 13 years ago. I had taken a short break after I moved back from the US and one my mother's friends came home and was curious to know why I was unemployed. I told her that I had started a new business, but she wanted know more about the venture and I was not sure why. May be I was still within the marriageable age bracket for men and she had someone in my mind to pair-up with me? "Mind your business" is the name of my company, I said to her in a cool and relaxed way. Upon hearing my response her face displayed a myriad shades from green to red to grey and that cruel joke ended our relationship.

One has no choice but to go through social evaluations all through our life and put up with unsolicited advises. Before I made a decision, I searched the world-wide web, YouTube and TedX looking to learn from others experiences. Except for a few sites and a few videos very little resource is available. 

On the home front, I had no push-back and my parents were completely supportive of my decision and most of my friends appreciated my decision and a few enquired about my plans and some motivated me to keep a journal and turn it into a book that may be of help to others. 

Now I needed to write a script to making a crisp and convincing pitch at work seeking a sabbatical and also be prepared with plan b in case they choose to turn down my request. 

As a part of external/corporate communications, I had the experience of preparing a set of possible q&a before every press-briefing. Leveraging on my experience, I came up with a list of questions and short answers that don't lead to further questions. It was more of an escape pitch than an elevator pitch. 

You may have worked hard all your career, won the trust of your managers, bailed them out in difficult situations and even managed to get on their good books, but the moment you decide to take a break and move on there is a tectonic shift in their behavior. I was not Carrie Bradshaw jumping in and out of relationships, I had worked here for 5 years and proved my abilities and was recently nominated for the marketing and communications high-fliers award. Is it time fly out rather than fly high? Did all my hard work and earned trust go out the window that very instance? What happened at work that week?