Introduction

I’m in the incredibly fortunate position to be taking a three month sabbatical from work.

”But you’re not an old academic” your friend may say.

And correct they are. But the world is changing and I find myself working for a company that has just put a sabbatical policy in place. I’ve been at MOHARA since 9 April 2019 and it’s been a journey. I’ve learnt so many things, grown so much as a leader and built some incredible digital products through it all. I really appreciate and value the fact that they are showing their appreciation and value for me me by allowing me three months off work to explore.

You probably have a lot of questions right now - at least I would if I read this. What does a sabbatical mean? What are going going to do? Why are you writing a blog? How did you get Notion to be hosted on leothesen.com? Who exactly are you? (if this post is read by more than just my mom and close friends). Rather than answering these questions that I have simply imagined, I am instead just going to freestyle a whole bunch of words and hope that it causes you to forget the questions that you might have.

I think that it would be best if I begin chronologically. The People and Talent team within MOHARA pitched the idea of offering MO_HEROs (long term employees) an opportunity to take a sabbatical after they had been employed for more than three years. This must have been about a year ago, and the idea of it sounded incredible. When they opened up applications for the sabbatical a few months ago I jumped at the opportunity. It was a bit too good to turn down; being able to take up to three months off all the while receiving a third of your normal salary.

I am a huge believer in the idea of a sabbatical as a benefit for companies to offer. There are so many people out there who have worked for a company for three years or more and quit, not because they were particularly unhappy but rather that they were looking for adventure; for a huge change just to slap them back into the thrill of life. I think that there are many ways to describe this, but at the core of it is that humans thrive with change. Diversity was said to be the spice of life, was it not?

And I am tired. Not completely exhausted, or in a bad position, but rather in need of a break and something new. So without the sabbatical policy being offered to me I would be in a strange position - do I quit or try take unpaid leave to go on the adventure that I’m really craving? I’ve got some savings, but it doesn’t seem like the best idea to eat into them when I don’t have an income. Luckily that isn’t the case! I’m taking a three month adventure, financially supported with the weight off my back because I know that I have a job that I love to go back to, working with people who appreciate me so much that they let me do this - a dream situation.

Ok, ok! I’ll tell you what my plans are… but I warn you that they might not satisfy your curiosity. I’m driving Ralph the NP200 up the East Coast of South Africa with surfboards, running and hiking gear. Still not happy? Well I’m doing that for about two months and then planning a trip to Europe with my partner Jordan. And that’s all I have for you tonight folks!

Now the underlying reason for the lack of a stacked itinerary is that I really want to use this time to just explore and deal with things as they appear. I could see myself setting off for a three month adventure with a checklist of all the things that I wanted to do, then suddenly the petrol price is R200 a litre and the whole thing is a disaster. Plus, being A-type is my job. And I’m on sabbatical baby, chaotic unplanned adventure here we come.

Rather than plans I have a couple mutually compatible intentions for the trip:

Write you say? But you don’t have any pictures of that…

The first four are self-explanatory, but the writing one is a little rogue for me. It’s never been something that I did other than when it was absolutely required. Although, over the last year I’ve slowly been putting more effort into it both at work and personally. I find communicating with people such a fascinating and beautiful thing, and writing a large proponent of it.

Hilariously, the start of my writing career was actually a satirical Whatsapp message that I sent a group at the end of last year. It was written from the point of view of a journalist reporting that I had come back from a festival teeming with COVID cases and managed to cure myself through a rather questionable consumption of custard and a purple vape. I’m not going to get into the specifics here, but it went somewhat viral amongst my friends; so if you know, then you know.

I have been meaning to get a bit more serious about writing for most of this year, and when the sabbatical idea was floated I knew that it would be the perfect time. As a little warm up I wrote quirky blog post on a hike that I did with my brother that you can find here.

I have found that writing is an incredible, introspective and cathartic time for me. It also forces me to live in the moment while I’m not writing. If I try jot some notes down about an activity during which I was lost in thought, I am often at a loss. It’s a way of holding myself accountable for being sure that I am absolutely living in the moment during these next three months. And, as a bonus, it’s going to serve both as a set of memories for me and a way of keeping the people in my life up to date.

So, this was the introduction. I don’t really know what the next post is going to be, but you can sign up for email updates when it’s ready.

Leo