You Can Take Six Months Off!

It’s hard to believe that today-June 2- marks the one year anniversary of when we headed off in our newly purchased motorhome on our family sabbatical around the USA. It’s been one year since we left and six months since we returned. Time sure does fly!

This past year has no doubt been one of the best of our lives. Traveling for 6 months and then reflecting on that experience for the next 6 has made for an amazing year. Our sabbatical introduced us to so many like-minded people- in person and virtually- that we would’ve never met in our routine daily life at home.

Tomer Lanis and his family are an inspiration as they also pulled out of life and spent 6 months sailing the Caribbean. Lanis sent me his book You Can Take Six Months Off.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading and relating to so much of their adventure. Although our means of travel were drastically different, our passion, dedication and determination were the same.

The Lanis Family enjoying Maho Beach, St. John, USVI along their 6 month sabbatical sailing around the Caribbean.

If you would love to take six months off and travel with your family or if you have done it before, you will enjoy this read. It is interesting and inspiring at the same time. One chapter is dedicated to a Mind Map that breaks down the multitude of interconnected tasks that may intimidate anyone thinking of taking their own time out. I really liked the way Lanis spelled out 16 tasks that their family worked through to prepare for their sabbatical.

Excerpts from the book that inspired me and that I totally related to in why we took six months off as well:

“The purpose of the trip is neither the destination nor the activity. It is my family- dedicating time for each other, intensifying our bonds, and expanding our horizons. Staying at home is incomparable because the experience is too familiar and static. Endless distractions steal your attention from your family.”

Love your life? So do we. It’s ok to just take a break from it! It can all still be there when you return.

“I have read about and met others who had taken longer breaks. They sold their house and quit their jobs. For me, that would be too much to lose. I love my life at home and truly enjoy my work I appreciate my social network and am lucky to own a home in a beautiful location. I don’t want to give all that up. I would like to pursue my dreams without sacrificing my current life. Six months, for that purpose, is the ideal duration for me to be away.”

“I am neither the first nor the only one to realize that taking my spouse and kids for a time out of the rat race is the best use of my resources- my money, my energy and my time. Allowing my job, the kids’ school, our mortgage or my comfort zone to take control of my life would certainly lead to regret.”

No Date- No Commitment

“Setting the date means making a commitment. In principle, no date is convenient for interrupting our routine life, leaving our home and putting our jobs on hold. While you’re immersed in daily tasks and the career race, any date seems to be the worst possible timing. There is no wrong timing for dedicating time to each other. Any date will do.”

Put your job on hold

“Taking time off- or not- is my decision. Letting me return to my job when I’m back- or not- is my manager’s decision. My employer is not the master of my life, I am. They are not responsible for my dreams, I am. If I’m not wanted back at work after my absence, then I am probably in the wrong place anyway.”

Connect with Tomer Lanis on his website. His book You Can Take Six Months Off would make a great Fathers Day gift. Purchase it here on Amazon.