The Logic

Logic models are visual statements of intended activities and how they bring about the change and results you hope to see. This was a good exercise to think about our hopes and dreams and how a family sabbatical could help us achieve them.

Emily's Family Sabbatical Logic Model:

I'm now zeroing in on that green column above... the objectives. Can we achieve these things through other means at home? Sure, but I feel pretty certain that an extended stay away from the grind of every day life could be a huge help in achieving these things for our family.

I shared this diagram with my other half and didn't really need to convince him of the connections.  The biggest and most obvious question really is whether it could all pencil out. Are the risks worth taking to reach these desired outcomes?  Worth all the hassles of caring for our house, our cat? Worth the potential insecurity and instability upon return? Will we just be taking one step forward and two steps back? 

These are all logistics that need to be figured out and I don't want to underestimate the costs and the importance of developing a realistic budget. At the same time, I don't want our fears of failure to guide our life decisions. The cost of living is expensive and I want to be real about what we can afford. Not everyone is positioned to take a long family trip abroad. It seems that only the privileged or the very nomadic can really make it happen. I would count us as very privileged:  we are white, middle-class, home-owners with three sets of parents who would totally house us in a heart-beat if we fell flat on our faces (not everyone has a stable support network or safety net, and even though it's a worst-case scenario, it's still comforting to know that we wouldn't end up in the streets)!

So this is the "logic", now we have about a year and a half to nail down the "logistics". Here is my first crack at the "to do" list:

Winter
Start a separate bank account (Deposit a certain amount each month?)
Create a tight budget and figure out where we can currently cut back spending
Create a sabbatical budget based on projected costs and savings
Research fellowships or other potential funding sources
Research volunteer work-stays, remote work options

Spring
Finalize top destinations based on budget and desired activities and objectives
Identify a short list of concrete options (specific work-stays, rentals, etc)
Talk with others who have stayed in places we are considering
Transform our garage into transitional housing?

Summer
Decide on specific length of stay
Secure housing abroad

Fall
Brush up on Spanish
Correspond about schooling abroad

Winter

Immunizations

Visas

Begin seeking renters

Spring
Sell stuff
Make sure all bills are electronic
Begin renting out garage (if possible?)
Discuss trip with employers and options upon our return

Summer
Figure out mail collection
Travel, health insurance
Purchase plane tickets

Fall
Pack our bags
Tie up lose ends
Say goodbye to loved ones

What is the Objective?

Planning a sabbatical abroad is a pretty major undertaking. It requires a unique mix of long-term planning with a willingness to step into the unknown and go with the flow. If you have a spouse, it becomes even more challenging to identify a time, within your two intertwined stories, when both can set aside everything you've invested in (jobs, a home, social lives), to co-write a life chapter of plot twists and turns. 

Then there's the kid factor.  Having a family makes taking a sabbatical seem even more tricky and unorthodox. If it weren't scary enough to leave the fragile stability and security of our "normal" lives behind, add the responsibility of your child's well-being and big life decisions take on another layer of complexity.

We are a family of three. Our 3-year old recently described us all as "a monster and two wild giants". We, wild giants, are in our mid-late thirties. We have owned our home for 5 years and our mortgage is our biggest payment, followed by childcare, and student loans. We each have stable modest jobs, one of us works for a small weatherization company and another works for the State government.                                                                                                                                 We've talked about our interest in traveling abroad sometime in the future, but I'm starting to get serious about this dream. I've been looking around at different places and thinking about what our ideal environment and experience could be. This part of the process is a solo endeavor.                                                                                                                                   A new acquaintance who works as a life coach, encouraged me to start this blog. I had reached out to her because I was feeling like something needed to change in my life. I felt like after becoming a mom that things felt turned upside-down, in terms of what kind of job and life I want to lead.  

"If this family sabbatical is part of your dreams," she acknowledged, "then maybe you need to really focus on that." Instead of trying to focus on every little part of my life that still feels unclear, she suggested that placing my energy on this dream will provide the means by which I might figure out some of the other stuff. 

This blog is a way to put this intention out into the universe. In the process, maybe I can help another mom make a similar dream possible. "After all", my life coach reminded me, "there are probably a lot of other families who also dream of taking a family sabbatical!"

I stayed up late that night, reviewing a collection of links that I had already found and pasted into a document entitled "Family Sabbatical". The links were mostly potential places we could stay. One link was to an elementary school that actually encouraged the participation of students on family sabbaticals. The school is in a mountain town in central Mexico and the more I learned about the town, the more I could envision us there. I got excited when I found a posting of a place for rent that was in our price range and in a desirable location. I could barely fall asleep, filled with excitement for what could be on the horizon.

The next day or two, I tried to wait for a time when I could have a heart-to-heart with my fellow wild giant. With the kid and work and stress and everything, it's hard to just find the time to have a conversation. Plus my partner doesn't have the same kind of excitement for talking about future goals and plans. For him, it feels more daunting and draining. I mentally prepared myself for the fact that he may not reflect the same kind of enthusiasm back. 

His response: "What's the objective?"

We haven't finished that conversation, yet. But the question has been sitting with me. I decided not to stall on starting this blog. It's an important question... and one that we need to work on together. I think he may wonder if my excitement for "getting away" is a form of escaping the challenges and stress that we feel here at home. And that's probably not a healthy reason to quit our jobs and move to an unknown town, in a foreign country, without any real plan.

Do I yearn for this family sabbatical because I want to "move away" from the patterns and complexities of our current life? Or do I want this family sabbatical because I want to "move towards" something closer to my true calling?

The "What is the objective?" question makes me think of a classic logic model that outlines a project goal, as achieved through certain activities. As nerdy as it sounds, I think I will go make one now.