A designer’s advice on finding clarity in your career and life: Take that sabbatical
Harry Thaler had long dreamt of going on a sabbatical – so he took a year off. He learnt that it wasn’t an escape from life but a way to recharge it.
Once, when I was a student, I travelled with my friends from my hometown of Merano to Morocco. On a beach in Agadir, I met a couple who were on a sabbatical – a year off work – with their family. I thought, “I want to do that.” The idea stayed with me for the next 30 years. When I turned 50, my wife, my children and I decided that it was finally the moment.
My aim for the trip was to be a kid again. When you’re a child, you think in the moment. I had been working since I was 15, always thinking about new projects. It’s hard to even switch off on an ordinary holiday: you spend the first few days still thinking about work, before you slowly unwind, only to spend the last few thinking about it again. So I knew that to achieve my goal, I would have to cut off completely.
My sabbatical took a year and a half to organise. I had to slowly wind down my operations. I run a design studio as a solo practitioner so it was straightforward in some ways but I still had to speak to colleagues and clients. I deleted apps from my phone, cleared out my wardrobe. I wanted to close the door with certainty so that when departure day came, I could think of nothing but the road ahead. I knew that such a feeling of freedom would only be possible if I shut everything else down.
Over 10 months, we travelled through Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, then on via Dubai to Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand and the US, before returning to Europe. It all went so fast. We stayed in each place for about a month. It mattered enormously to arrive somewhere and stay still, to make a home of it – new routines, a regular coffee spot, faces that you start to recognise. Every day felt like an ordinary one, just without the hard work. Part of the plan was to do nothing job-related at all: no visiting design museums or galleries, no wandering into buildings to study the architecture. It wasn’t always easy to break years of habit but I had gone on this sabbatical because I wanted to change something. I emptied my head – in a good way.
On my return, I didn’t want to change my job or my life. I wasn’t thinking of opening a coffee shop. I love what I do. The difference is that I can do it better now. I’m quicker and sharper. It feels like the start of my career again. Everything has been cleared out so I can begin filling back up. I was scared to return but the phone has started ringing and the jobs are coming in – only now I bring a new freshness to them and have double the energy. Ask me again in a while, though. I might need another sabbatical. Maybe in eight years.
As told to Nic Monisse.
