I will not take your time and mine to explain the long history of the term "sabbatical". But in practice today, a sabbatical is generally found at colleges and universities. At various points in their careers, professors can request permission to take a sabbatical. During this period, they continue to receive their salaries, but they are usually not required to be in residence at the school or to teach classes. This is a period during which they can leave their day-to-day professional concerns aside and focus on new research that will improve their knowledge and perhaps lead to a new discovery. That may include travel or any number of things, all designed to improve them professionally. It is not a vacation. And it is not awarded to any professor simply because she or he has requested it. Professors have to prepare a proposal, outlining what they intend to do with their time and why that is useful to their profession, and receive the approval of their superior.

Fundamentally, a sabbatical is a period of time during which an academic can "get away from it all" and focus on new research and new professional horizons, without quitting his or her job. The Life Sabbatical is not exactly the same as the academic sabbatical, but the spirit is the same.

In practice, traditional "retirement" for most people has emphasized leaving employment behind and supporting themselves on their government's "social security" payments, payments from their pension plans, and the proceeds from the sale of investments or speculations in the future, when needed. Many of us find our greatest joy in just saying farewell to a career that no longer excites us and often depresses us. We happily leave behind that dumb boss, the boring routine, those annoying staff meetings, those useless memos, and much more. I understand that. I am 64 and felt much the same sense of relief when I left my old field of employment. There are times in our life when "enough is enough" sums it up pretty well.

However, there are at least two important ways in which a sabbatical differs from retirement.

The professor knows that he or she has their old job waiting for them when they return. In traditional retirement, when you retire, you are not taking some kind of "sabbatical', you are quitting with no intention of returning. Therefore, your job goes to someone else and you are not expected back.

The professor is paid for his time as it is meant to improve his professional performance. In traditional retirement, you "pay" yourself. If you discover three, five, ten or more years later that you can no longer afford to support yourself without employment, you can find returning to the workforce is a nightmare of disappointment and depression. That is what I speak of so bluntly on the home page of this site and in my article at Barron's.

I have spoken to and worked with hundreds of retiring individuals and couples for more than a decade. I hear the real pain they experience when they find themselves forced to look for a job after years of avoiding employment. The reception they get is depressing. No, employers and their human resource departments will not use the language I used, they are not interested in being sued for age discrimination, but if you think that the words I used don't cross their minds, I suspect you are sadly mistaken.

They are not necessarily discriminating on the basis of age; they are discriminating on the basis of your current professional credentials, your resume. Unfortunately, if you have a "blank space" instead of a job at the top of that resume for the last few years, you just cannot compete with someone else who has no blank space at the top of their resume.

This is bad enough, but given the global economic crisis we are passing through now and the very real likelihood that it will continue for at least the next few years, the odds that traditional retirees are going to face the need for new employment, but also face a sub-standard job market with little sympathy for anyone who does not have the best credentials by virtue of their own choice, is very high.

What to do?

My proposal is that you consider taking a "Life Sabbatical", not traditional retirement.

Let's face it, many of us really want to get away from the work world we live in now, or once did if we are already traditionally retired. One way to deal with this is not to tell yourself (and others) that you are turning your back on employment and earned income for the rest of your life. However, if staying in your current job is either not possible or objectionable, try taking a sabbatical.

I suggested three years for a Life Sabbatical in my article at Barron's, but I don't care whether it is one, three, five or whatever years. The point is to take some time off from the work situation or field that no longer interests you, enjoy the comparative freedom of not working, but make it a goal to find something else to do that you really enjoy doing. It does not have to happen a month after you retire, or a year later. You may go through more than one possibility in your search, but the goal is to find that "something", research it, get some training, talk to people doing it (networking in the process), and above all, try it out, even on an unpaid basis. But do it without the pressure and tension of having to do it quickly. You will find it eventually and if you work at it, you will learn to do it well enough to be paid. Then, if you don't need the money, you can enjoy it as a life hobby. But if the day comes that you need the money, you have something that you really enjoy doing to look at realistically as a source of income.

Simply put, if you think you have enough money to traditionally retire, than you have enough money to take a "life sabbatical". Since you are solely focused on doing what you enjoy doing, you can't lose. But you have the real hope of "winning" some income happily, if that becomes necessary in the future.

The Life Sabbatical is not a difficult concept. It is really very simple. But like everything good in life (and you know this from your own experience already), even simple things take work and focus.

After all these years working with all those would-be retirees and actual retirees, it is clear to me that those few who consciously took this Life Sabbatical path, whatever they may have called it at the time, are far happier than those who did not. You know who I am talking about. They are the older people we knew when we were young who inspired us to think, "That's the way I want to be when I get old."

This site is dedicated to the people I still want to be when I get old. After all, I am only 64. I have a lot left to do. So do you.

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