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.