Sabbatical ideas
“Taking a sabbatical. What should I do with it?”
24 answers from 22 people · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Sign painting class at New Bohemia Signs (SF, CA)
Took this class three years ago during a sabbatical. Turns out my hands are Not Great for sign painting but I loved trying something new and I still have my sign I made on display at home.
Depending on how adventurous you are, I really recommend spending the $20 to buy a membership to Mind My House. This is a website that connects travelers to people looking for someone to house-sit for their pet while they travel. I took a year off from work from 2018-2019 to do some traveling, and this was really helpful for me to find free places to stay when I wasn't camping, as well as time to test-drive if I wanted to live in certain places. I house-sat three times for about seven weeks in total, and it was quite helpful!
191
I completed a Vipassana retreat in 2017 and it truly changed my life. I was a complete beginner and this was fairly intense but it was worth it. It’s completely free and they have centers spread out throughout the United States and all over the world.
Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic
A reminder that rest comes in many forms and its purpose is not solely to be better at working
1
I recommend the stained glass classes, but they have all kinds of classes: a few hours, a weekend workshop, to multi-week courses. It’s in a historic building in Golden Gate Park and run by SF Rec & Parks. Pro tip: Find the class you want early and put a reminder in your calendar for when registration starts. You have to sign up within the hour or it will fill!
5
Taking a leather-working class at Tandy
If you live somewhere with a Tandy leather store, I cannot recommend taking a class enough!!! They’re affordable (usually about $15/hour depending on the length/complexity of the class) and you leave having learnt a new skill and with a fun new item in tow. I took my mom to make leather tote bags and we had the best time together, and a few months back I did a journal cover making class. Buying the leather can get pricy but it’s not hard to find other uses for it. The classes usually include all the other tools/materials you need. As a plus, the store smells amazing!
72
I love the idea of disconnecting; each location comes with intention. Intention to disconnect (each location has a lockbox for your phone), intention to reconnect (each location has an analog kit and no wifi), their intent is to encourage and nourish. Also, their emails are full bodied and delightful.
7
Get in touch with your inner child and/or work through your emotions by playing make believe with other adults. Guaranteed to get you out of your head and make you laugh. If you’re lucky, you might even find a new community. Starting improv 💯 made the year after my divorce much easier than it would have been otherwise.
give yourself a writers retreat
find cabin in the woods read cookbooks to see what sparks the soul go to local farmer market remember you can do headstands and dance whenever you want stand in the rain lots of coffee drinking for fun find some water to jump in low light evenings read odd books let nature impose the joy of living Time to plan one for the spa'dettes <3
14
(Responsibly) Leaving Civilization Behind to Catch Up On Yourself
I go on retreat to the woods a couple of times a year. I bring a notebook, a pile of books, my favorite snacks, and occasionally my cat. I walk, think, read, build fires, and smell trees. It's incredibly good for the soul. When I'm in the woods, I get a break from being a professor, a parent, and even a partner. I just get to be alone with myself and experience myself as a person.
203
after six years of working remotely (my entire career? annoyingly?) I got a part-time job working at a pie shop for a few hours on Sundays. I get to give pie to smiling children! I have regulars! I get free pie! I am reminded that having a real job with real people is pretty great! (burnt out remote workers.... do this)
583
Certifications are like grown up Girl Scout badges. Many are cheap, and most are great conversation starters at parties. Marriage Officiant? Exotic animal handler? Ham radio operator? (My personal favorite is linked)
8
Indoor rock climbing to overcome fears
Hear me out: indoor rock climbing — specifically top-roping, NOT BOULDERING — is perfect for anyone who’s always fearful of things one logically knows they shouldn’t fear (doing that scary/new thing, taking the professional/life leap, saying what’s on your mind). The first few times you try it, it’ll make you feel off-kilter — or if you’re like me and afraid of heights, cry — but the more I tried it, i began to realize that inching up the wall was akin to a physical manifestation of overcoming my fears. A route you previously couldn’t complete (because, well, fear duh) will feel so good once you get just a tiny bit higher on it. Top-rope is also the safest way to climb, because someone’s ALWAYS got you on the bottom, so if you attempt something and fall, it’s totally fine, you’ll just be hanging on the wall. Also, if you get scared and tired, you can just hang out on the rope and contemplate the holds and think about what’s next. Breathe. Assess. And then try again. And if you don’t finish it, who cares? It’s just indoor rock climbing. It made me realize that so much of all my fears was just my brain saying “you can’t. don’t. what if” and so little of that is actually true.
2
20 recs
breaking free from algorithms, slowing down, returning to things i forgot i loved
Taking a long break from working is incredible! I no longer carry capitalism guilt for not being “productive.” Don’t take 2 weeks, take 2 years. 10/10 human experience
15
A solo trip, no social media allowed
Doesn’t have to be far, doesn’t have to be long, but it has to be alone. Spend some time with the sounds of the natural world and remember what your inner voice feels like when it stops running circles for other people. Dropping the weight of other people’s opinions, reactions, questions, choices will give you a much needed break. Ideally, you have a swim, bath, or shower before you reenter the world and interact with people again.
223
Throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks
I am not in a dissimilar situation, and I decided to ignore any nagging urge to talk myself out of taking risks and just try out a bunch of things — reach out to both my network of friends and those I don’t know well, take a continuing ed class in something I am interested in. Hopefully it all leads to something.
7
adulthood has a terrible tendency to flatten us; to train us to stay in the lanes we already know, box ourselves in by our competencies, believe there’s something embarrassing about stepping outside those bounds. the digital age compounds this with polished feeds of mastered recipes or musical pieces or sports wins to a point where we start to believe that being good at something is what makes it worthwhile. and yet that’s entirely wrong. life itself is a constant beginning. there’s a type of private joy about starting again or trying something you have no business being good at. a childlike feeling where curiosity matters more than success, failing only to find yourself smiling in the attempt :)
1061
Pick a new hobby and commit to being bad at it
Seriously. I was depressed, empty, burnt out, uninspired, and bland. I talked about it in therapy often. My therapist told me to pick something I could do for just me. No one would need to know or see it. So it could be really bad. I kept mentioning I wanted to learn how to do Lino prints. So I bought some basic supplies and started. It was the beginning of finding my spark back. I made mistakes, had big flops, but I also made something with my own two hands. It was an incredibly physical process. It was repetitive and cathartic and healed my nervous system enough to find joy and creativity back. Your spark isn’t gone for good. It just needs some more kindling to make it grow into a brilliant roaring flame. Rooting for you. :)
60
