November is the one-year anniversary of GlobalJuliana.com. My blog embodies three passions – travel, writing, and spirituality – and is a testament to the transformative 15 months of my mid-life career break. As this blog was born to channel my evolving self-expression, to be featured in “Taking a Career Break for Dummies” feels like the manifestation of a deliberate reconnection with my soul’s desire to be self-expressed and leave a positive legacy for humankind.
Around the 11th month of my intentionally planned career break, I decided to rejoin the workforce. Fueled by confidence in my qualifications and professional networks, I anticipated securing the right job within a conservative three-month timeframe – a miscalculation, as events would prove. The landscape of discouraging job-hunt experiences accumulated, gradually eroding the spirited and empowered self I had forged during my enriching sabbatical. It was my dedication to spiritual and mindfulness practices that shattered the veil of scarcity thinking and negative self-talk. Through them, the tides shifted, and I found work that felt aligned.
Two weeks after ending my 15-month career break, I met Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” at the Art of New Creation workshop. You may have heard that you should never meet your heroes, but my encounter was a sobering experience in the art of gracefully setting boundaries.
My career break was a period marked by moments of sheer enchantment, heartbreaking sadness, mental confusion, wins, losses, emotional freedom, and spiritual awakenings. Here’s a wrap-up of the valuable lessons I learned.
The duality between mind and instinct has been a constant theme of my career break. Discerning what’s what can be challenging. On a solo glamping trip in Texas, nature sent me messages in the wilderness language. I’m learning to decode it and gather powerful insights.