I remember back at the beginning of February when my sabbatical stretched out in front of me – three mostly empty months with time to rest, with time to do the things that bring me life, with time to simply be.
And here I am, ¾ of the way through April and the end is just around the corner. (I’m taking Study Leave the first week in May, so I still have 2 ½ weeks before I go back.)
When I started out, I didn’t know if I would get bored with so much free time on my hands. When I started out, I didn’t know if I would get lonely (with memories of the loneliness of those first horrible months of the pandemic still fresh in my heart and mind).
Neither of these things happened.
I didn’t have a rigid structure to my days, but I had plenty to do. I kept up my regular exercise routine. I had time to read and to lose myself in a book (at one point a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I had 4 books on the go at the same time – something that I haven’t done since high school.) I had time to practice my music every day (well, most days!). I was able to dedicate time to working on the paper that I’m going to be presenting at a conference in June.
I also didn’t get lonely. I had a couple of regularly scheduled weekly outings – church on Sunday, and choir practice on Monday. I was able to make a couple of trips and spent time with friends and family. I was able to get together with friends and do fun things (concerts, plays) without exhausting my supply of people-ing reserves.
One of my biggest sabbatical goals was around rest. I wrote in a previous post about my insight into the emotional fatigue that I’ve been carrying alongside the physical and mental fatigue; but it has been more than that. When the pandemic arrived, I got into some very bad sleep habits that I never recovered from; and in the past couple of months, I’ve been working on strategies to start getting the sleep that my body needs. It took a while but has been mostly successful – in the past couple of weeks, I’ve finally felt well-rested, which means that I’m feeling more myself than I have in a couple of years.
I have one more trip between now and the end of Sabbatical, but I think that I’m going to be ready to go back when the time comes. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone from the three churches. I’m looking forward to preaching and leading worship each week (though it has been very nice to sit in the pew and have no leadership responsibilities for the past couple of months). I’m even looking forward to some of the meetings!
I know that Nuru will be my accountability partner,
making sure that I make lots of time for snuggles in my schedule.
