When planning my sabbatical, I initially thought that during the first few weeks I would allow myself to simply relax, lie on my couch, watch tv, laze around. Then I got scared: what if going from full-time work to full-time rest would give me – I don’t know – stress hormone withdrawal sindrome!?
So I very typically went all out, and filled my calendar with as many activities I could possibly fit in, to make the most of my free time: I hiked, ran a 10k, attended a drink a draw event and a stand up comedy night, volunteered at 3 different charities, started 2 English pronunciation courses, met with friends I hadn’t seen in years, stepped in as an organiser for the Childfree London Meetup group, all while having to wake up at 6am due to building works in my house…
Until my body presented me with the bill.
Within a couple of days, first I clumsily burnt the back of my hand with an oven rack, then I decided that I DEFINITELY HAD TO repeatedly lift that 25kg ball for the “good morning” exercise during my HIIT class…
And there went my back!
Stuck in bed with flu-like sensations in my body and hyper-tight muscles, all of a sudden my calendar was empty again. It’s been over a week now, my back and hand are almost completely healed, and I’ve learnt my lesson: there actually has to be a “rest” part within “all the rest” of this sabbatical.
I am in Italy now and for the next few weeks, and have all the intention of honouring this resolution. In the meantime… enjoy this London hyperactive photo dump.
Meeting the amazing Ali Woods at one of his standup comedy gigs
Volunteering for The Felix Project and Migrateful … more on that coming soon!
All the rest 