The Unexpected Extension of My Sabbatical
Every year, I plan my sabbatical like clockwork. From mid-November to early January, I step away from the hustle to rest, recharge, and map out the year ahead. It’s my time to reset, be with family, and come back ready to take on my business with fresh energy. But this time, things didn’t go as planned.
January rolled around, and instead of feeling refreshed, I felt… nothing. No motivation, no excitement, no creative spark. Just a heavy fog that wouldn’t lift. It wasn’t burnout—I’d been there before in 2021 when my body physically shut down after pushing too hard. This was different. It was deeper, heavier, and completely unshakable.
At first, I told myself I just needed one more week to get back on track. Then another. And another. Before I knew it, my sabbatical had stretched into February.
The Weight of Uncertainty
I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I felt this way, but I knew a big part of it was the state of the world. The uncertainty. The tension. The way everything felt unstable, like trying to build a business in shifting sand. How do you plan for the future when the future itself feels unpredictable? How do you set goals when the world around you feels like it could turn upside down at any moment?
The longer I sat in this feeling, the more I realized something: I wasn’t just dealing with a loss of motivation, I was grieving stability. The ability to plan with confidence. The excitement of looking ahead without that gnawing doubt in the back of my mind.
What I Thought I Knew About Boundaries
The irony? I thought I already had this figured out. After hitting rock bottom with burnout in 2021, I built a business structure that prioritized balance. Sabbaticals, a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off workflow, and clear boundaries that protected my time, energy, and well-being.
But what I didn’t realize was that boundaries aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. They evolve. What worked for me in 2021 wasn’t working for me now. And that was a hard pill to swallow.
I had to relearn my own boundaries, not just around work, but around my emotions, my energy, and even the kind of support I needed. The boundaries that once felt solid now felt like walls keeping me stuck instead of helping me move forward.
Finding My Way Back
So how did I start coming out of it? Honestly, it was slow. It wasn’t an overnight realization or a single moment that snapped me back into action. It was a series of small shifts:
Getting out of the house. Depression makes you want to isolate, but isolation only deepens the spiral. I forced myself to step outside, even if it was just a short outing with a friend or a quick run to the store.
Allowing myself to do only 1-3 things a day. On the heaviest days, I stopped pressuring myself to “get back to normal” and instead focused on small wins. Even if all I did was answer one email, that was enough.
Understanding that rest is also productive. Some days, my body needed full rest, and that was okay. I had to remind myself that not every moment needed to be about pushing forward. REST CAN ALSO BE SEEN AS PRODUCTIVE!
Reevaluating my boundaries. Instead of seeing them as rigid rules, I started seeing them as adaptable tools. Some needed to be loosened. Others needed to be reinforced. And that was okay.
The Lesson in All of This
If you’re in a season where you feel stuck, unmotivated, or just… off, I want you to know this: you’re not broken. You don’t need to force yourself back into motion before you’re ready. But you do need to listen to yourself.
Your needs today might not be the same as they were last year, and that’s okay. Your boundaries may need to shift, and that’s okay. Your productivity might look different for a while, and that’s okay.
The goal isn’t to “bounce back” as quickly as possible. The goal is to move forward in a way that actually supports you. And sometimes, that means sitting in the discomfort for a little while, figuring out what you need, and allowing yourself to grow through it.
