Career Break Initiated!

 I'm back again with another update! Following up from my previous post, our family has finally embarked on our 6 month sabbatical from work and we are currently in Malaysia! Coincidentally, today is my birthday and it felt appropriate to have a new journal entry during this very interesting period in our lives.

About a month after my last post, my wife received news that her company was intending to have a reduction in force and her group would most likely be a target to cut. This pushed our plan to step away from work forward about half a year earlier than we intended. However, after long discussions with my wife and teetering back and forth on making a firm decision, we booked a 1way flight to Hanoi and that sealed the deal that our trip would happen. We were terribly nervous about the logistics of the trip, but planting our foot and booking the trip forced us to move forward with our plans.

Prior to this trip, I was also incredibly nervous about how to relay my decision to resign from my job with my manager and team. I had just started working under a new manager for about 2 months before I had to let him know that I was leaving the company. I didn't want to outright refuse to provide any reasoning for my departure, but at the same time I didn't want to be entirely open about why exactly I was leaving. In the end, I let them know that my wife and I were stepping away from work for an extended period of time to take care of family(which was still true). Unfortunately, my company was unable to provide an extended leave from work and instead I had to resign from my position. My wife and I had prepared financially for this outcome for a few months prior so we were comfortable stepping away as we had saved a good amount of money to support our trip, but still it was quite difficult for me to confront my management and my team with the news. On my final day of work, I tried to leave quietly without much interaction with my teammates, but looking back, this may have just been my way to avoid awkward discussions and confrontation(which was probably not the best way to handle it in hindsight..). My manager let me know that he would try to keep my position open for me upon my return, but I can't fully commit to rejoining the company at this time.

As for our trip so far, we have stayed for about 1 month in Hanoi which was a great experience for all of us. Our family got to spend more time with my wife's side of the family and our daughter and I had a chance to experience living overseas for the first time. Everyone adores our daughter and I can see that our daughter really enjoys playing with our younger cousins. It did take some time for our daughter to embrace the new environment(she would get upset when others would only speak Vietnamese to her and she could not understand or communicate what she wanted to others). However, after about 2-3 weeks she was more comfortable. 

My daughter and I were even able to pick up a bit of Vietnamese during our time there(which I am secretly very proud of myself for accomplishing!). As of this post, we have now been in Malaysia for about 2 weeks during which time we got to explore the city as well as catch up with my aunties and cousins. Similarly, all of my aunties and cousins adore our daughter. She also seems to be able to adapt and feel much more comfortable in Malaysia as English is much more widely spoken and understood here.

Personally, I was able to stick with my previous plan of consistently exercising as well as reading more(especially focusing on self-improvement and self-help books). I hope to continue this routine throughout the remainder of our trip as I do feel it has helped my mental health a lot.

So far the only lingering concern in the back of my mind has been our return to the US and securing employment when we get back. It will be very hard for us to go back to our normal routine and "boring" lives. Most jobs on LinkedIn do not seem to appeal to me much or are a big step down in terms of responsibility(and subsequently compensation). I am trying to remind myself that my focus should be on finding a career where I see longevity in(which means hopefully a less stressful albeit less compensated role). My career focus previously was focused mostly on achieving high pay, but now my focus is more towards greater job satisfaction, feeling more belonging to a team, and having longevity in my role. Hopefully, I can find a good match to my aspirations upon our return.

Overall, I am very proud of our decision to embark on this journey as I truly believe it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am happy with how our experience has been so far and I am also happy with how much my wife and I have been able to improve ourselves and accomplish during this time(with my wife currently taking coursework to complete an MBA!). I'm continuing to try to remind myself about my previous struggles with career satisfaction(and in turn, my own self-worth) and focus on how I can improve my mindset towards this area. As I continue to self-reflect during my time away from work, I'm hoping I can learn to stand up for myself more in my career and separate my self-worth from my job.

Looking forward to writing again near the conclusion of our trip to reflect more on our experience!

Cheers