Seven years ago when I was going away with my family on our annual sabbatical adventure around the world it seemed an extraordinary event, though of a one-time nature.

That first annual break from professional activity, i.e. sabbatical, in view of the past 7 years turned out to be one of the best decisions in my life. Though instinctively I anticipated such an impact, strong skepticisim of many people around me and the noise of „going upstream” silenced a bit the inner voice.

Today, when I am going on my next sabbatical, I have similar feelings. The situation is similar, though not completely. This sabbatical will be more of an internal journey. I have travelled enough in the past 7 years; roughly 1 million km. That’s like going to the Moon and coming back and then going there again just one way :-).

Besides, a trip with our older kids who are in middle and high schools would be daunting in terms of securing their educational continuity. There will be some family travel, though much shorter. Wojtek’s and Ania’s Jr. homeschooling 7 years ago was much easier. I should also mention our new kid on the bloc, Jas, who is now 16 months. He is a bit too small for such a year-long trip. Perhaps next time?

Since this was such a good decision, why not repeat this experience? The price is not low though. I am leaving my comfort zone and sense of stability. Looking at it from a purely mundane or economic perspective such a decision does not seem to have much sense. Luckily one does not need to calculate everything from the financial return point of view. There is a yawning gap between material and spiritual world. I have no illusions about that. Using the power of our free will we have to accept the consequences of the choices we make. Dealing with strategic decisions in my profession on a daily basis I am all too aware of this. At its core, strategic thinking implicates certain course of action and excluding others at a given time. Thinking that we can have this and this and that … is one of the huge illusions we create for ourselves.

So I leave again my „golden cage” and pursue the unknown. I do not have a fixed plan for the coming year. Having said that I have a couple of ideas and projects from my bucket list I wanted to realize, if God is willing. At this point I will confess there are at least 10 of them for 2018. Since I do not want to jinx it I will not disclose the details now. I will reveal them to you as I progress through 2018.

Concluding I want to ask you for your prayers or for keeping your fingers crossed for good fruits of this sabbatical. From my side I promise my prayers for you and commit to give life updates on this blog  www.naszsabbatical.com from time to time.

I want to wish you all in the coming year lots of love, a deeper sense of purpose  and that you dare to follow your heart more often.