Have you ever had a challenging situation that turned into an opportunity working in your favor?
December 2022 was an interesting turning point of my professional career. After numerous travels and meeting several deadlines, I was finally looking forward to a well-deserved rest and holiday festivities.One Monday morning, attending a townhall meeting, I discovered that my services were no longer needed in the company. I was made redundant after offering my loyal services for the past 15 years. I received this news with mixed emotions; on one hand, disappointed by how the situation was dealt with by the institution I respected, and on the other hand, a childlike emotion of excitement at what the opportunity the universe was offering me. I therefore decided to offer myself a sabbatical (something that I had never done for the past 25 years of my professional career!
Fast-forward August 2023, I have had wonderful moments and experiences that I would have not had the opportunity otherwise and so ever grateful for the turn of page. I have spent time with my loved ones, shared moments with many of my friends and rediscovered the child in me, who’s playful, curious and open to discover new things! I feel good, my mind body and soul refreshed and now ready and able to share with others. As we say “sharing is caring”, here are a few nuggets learnt from my time during the sabbatical period:
1: Selfcare
As business professionals, we live in an environment that has a perpetual race for results, performance, competition etc. The question is, are you aware which race and lane are you engaged in? Taking time to pause, take a deep breath and taking the time to resource oneself is a key element to taking care of oneself. There is no other gift you can give to yourself than the gift of self-care. Dr Wendy Suzuki’s research demonstrated that physical exercise is vital and transformative for your most important part of your body – the brain. During my sabbatical, I took time to do daily exercises, walk, hike and indulge in many types of sports, deriving pleasure and sense of calm and rejuvenation.
2: Learn something new
My dream was to understand more about the doing business in the digital space. I had the opportunity to attend courses in Digital Business Transformation and especially in developing digital business strategies. At the beginning, some of those topics sounded like jargon, sending self-doubt wondering if I made the right choice of course. When I got into the heart of the subject and connected to my consulting profession, I found my childlike-self enjoying every aspect of it as the courses advanced. As I had ample time to concentrate to the studies, I found this experience challenging, enriching and fulfilling, where I got out of my comfort zone, increased my motivation and now have new set of tools for my next professional life.
3: Network
What is considered a good professional network? How do you consider the value and worth of the network? Engaging your network can be a daunting task, to say the least, but it shouldn’t be. During this time, I had the opportunity to look closer at web of my network discovered I needed to diversify my network outside my inner (professional) circle to two or more outer circles. I was privileged to attended business meeting clubs with professionals from other sectors, I participated in club sports competitions and enjoyed the camaraderie of sportsmanship. This meant that I had to get uncomfortable and meet new people asking them of things that we don’t have in common.
I am very humbled by my sabbatical journey, grateful for this opportunity and now ready for the next adventure!
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