Several friends of mine, leaders with 30-plus years of experience and deep wells of wisdom, have recently found themselves navigating a career pause they didn’t ask for. Most are chomping at the bit to get back to the workforce, while the minority are relishing the time off. For those of us who are 50+ years old, when the rhythm of a career is suddenly interrupted by a spreadsheet decision, the silence can feel especially loud. It stings. How long we let it sting is up to us.
For some, there is an understandable, reflexive urge to polish the resume and sprint back into the fray as soon as possible. After all, at this stage of life, we have been pretty well indoctrinated. Work is core to who we have become. It’s conditioned many to feel lost as they navigate their newfound freedom from a list of tasks. It’s the paycheck addiction that we have so much trouble shaking, even if we are fortunate enough not to technically need it to cover our modest lifestyle.
But what if we looked at this “gap” not as a void to be filled, but as a clearing to be explored?
When building our careers, we are taught early on that momentum is a primary indicator of success. We spend decades climbing, often at the expense of the very things we claim to be climbing for. When the climb stops, whether by choice or by pink slip, we are given a rare, unasked-for gift: the gift of perspective.
For some, this is a season of great discomfort. For others, this is the opportunity they dreamt of, knowingly or not. How we perceive it and how we navigate it matter greatly.
If you find yourself in this pause, I encourage you to resist the rush. Instead, lean into the “sabbatical.”
Yes, you undoubtedly have more to give as a member of the workforce, but is that really where you want to be?
Are you rushing back merely because work is a comfortable place to hide from parts of your life that you don’t want to admit scare you? Lack of hobbies. Too much time with family. Too little self-worth beyond work.
No matter the answer, use this time to audit your life with a different set of metrics. Prioritize your health, as it may have been sidelined by decades of red-eye flights and boardroom lunches. Lean into the family moments that don’t fit into a calendar invite. Especially those that seem the most mundane on the surface.
Maybe this is the one-way trip to a purposeful retirement you hadn’t dared to script yet. Maybe this was the nudge you needed to embrace a new chapter that you were afraid to initiate on your own.
The sting is real, but so is the opportunity.
Whether we return to the workforce tomorrow or decide never to look back, this period of reflection is where real growth and possibly plenty of discomfort happen. It’s an invitation to be intentional about the legacy we are building, one day at a time, away from the noise of the office.
If you find your way back to work on your own terms, great!
If you decide that you have outgrown the workforce and embark on the “life after work “ chapter, wonderful!
Just don’t let sprinting back to the world you knew so well be your default. Even if it’s where you ultimately decide you want to be.
- If we cared more about our life beyond work than our LinkedIn profile, how would we spend our Tuesday morning?
- What part of our physical or mental health might be improved if we focused on the opportunity as opposed to the need to get back in the ring ASAP?
- At this point in our lives, do we want to be more of who we were, who we are, or who we want to become?
