Explaining Your Sabbatical To Other People.

"So what do you do?" can bring up all kinds of feelings 😅

I haven't had to do much explaining in professional contexts yet, but it has come up in personal contexts - parties, hanging out with friends, etc. One thing that I've found to be useful for explaining how I spend my time to myself and others has been to focus on the single largest project I'm working on right now instead of trying to rattle off all the things I'm actually trying to do:

"I'm writing a book about making the most of breaks from work"

vs.

"I took some time off from work to hike and bike around Boulder, garden, make art, write, and volunteer."

This has a few benefits:

1. Reminds me how I want to spend the majority of my day.
2. Is positive and focused on an interesting project instead of just being about escaping from the burden of work.
3. Has helped me find people like you who are interested in what I'm working on.

The story I tell also depends on who I'm talking to and how interested they seem in different aspects of it.