Should You Really Take That Career Break? A Well-being Perspective.

We cover:

How are you feeling about work right now?

Too tired? Feeling drained? Jaded? Fed up?

These are nebulous emotions, so let’s unpack to really get down to the source of what exactly you are feeling not-so-great about. 

What, Vyna? You’re asking me to drill down why I am feeling bad?!

Yes, my friend. Because when you know exactly why you feel bad, you know the way towards feeling better, because you know where to start.

Today’s article aims to help you in two areas: 

1. To determine exactly which aspect of your well-being is being compromised, and

2. Evaluate if that is reason enough to take a career break, based on how important that aspect is to you, in this current season of your life.

We’ll use a framework called the SPECIA-L Wellness Web that helps you in assessing your state of wellness more finely. Let’s see what clues it holds as to whether you should take a career break or not.

What’s So SPECIA-L About It?

That the acronym spells out the word “special” is not a coincidence. My intention is for us to be reminded that we all have different needs and desires in different seasons of our lives. Too often we live our personal and work lives in a state of mimicry, doing something because “that’s the way things are and others are doing it too”.

We are not meant to be living lives that are copies of other people. Our lives are a living art, and creating the life we desire is our greatest masterpiece, unique and special. 

What Is the SPECIA-L Wellness Web?

SPECIA-L is an acronym for six different dimensions of well-being, where S - Spiritual, P - Physical, E - Economic, C - Connection, I - Intellectual, A - Affective and L stands for Life Dimensions.

Just like a web, each component is interconnected to one another and all contribute to your current state of well-being. 

Here is the broad overview of what makes up your S-P-E-C-I-A-Life Wellness Web. 

S - Spiritual wellness relates to your relationship with something larger than oneself. It is not confined to specific religious or faith-based practices, and encompasses your beliefs and values.

P- Physical wellness relates to the caring of your body and having it function the best it can.

E- Economic wellness relates to the ability to achieve and manage the financial resources to meet your needs and goals. 

Using an art metaphor, many artists are commissioned by patrons who influence how their art work evolves. Sometimes these artists will have to compromise their own artistic vision. 

Similarly, the most important work of art for us all is the creation of a life that we truly desire. For many of us, our jobs are our patrons, funding our lifestyles but also it leads to us compromising on certain aspects of the life we desire.

A career break offers a respite from that trade-off, for a period of time. It is also possible to bolster your economic wellness enough to become your own patron and to self-fund the life that you want to create, supporting yourself with financial and other assets rather than a 9-to-5 job.

C - Connection wellness relates to having a supportive social network, positive and healthy relationships with others and a sense of belonging within your community.

I - Intellectual wellness relates various aspects of cognitive abilities, thinking processes, the pursuit of knowledge and learning and holistic mental wellness.

A- Affective wellness relates to your overall emotional health. It involves the ability to effectively navigate varying affective states and experiencing a full range of emotions such as happiness, as well as negative ones such as sadness. 

And L stands for Life.

Why Use The SPECIA-L Wellness Web?

Here are two reasons why it is useful in your decision making as to whether to take a career break or not. 

1. It helps you to decide whether you want to take a career break, from a positive rather than a negative set point.

It is important to review where you are right now before you take a big action such as a career break. 

When we are drained or tired of work, it seems tempting to focus on what is lacking. 

Instead of operating from an empty tank of scarcity, going through the SPECIA-L Wellness Web allows us to recognise where we actually are from a place where there is some level of fullness in some of your life dimensions. 

It allows us to take stock of what we already have, the opportunity to express gratitude for what we have already created in our lives, and then decide if a career break is in alignment with the life that we desire. Should you decide to take a career break, you will be coming from a place of a positive emotion rather than a negative one.

2. It gives clarity on which life dimensions will bring you the greatest fulfillment in this season of your life

The SPECIA-L Wellness Web not only tells us the areas that we are doing well in, but also gives greater clarity on the life dimensions that we feel could be better improved. If you do decide to take a career break, the SPECIA-L Wellness Web gives you clarity on the areas that you need to pay immediate attention to. That way, if you do decide to take a career break, it is not just a matter of quitting “from” work, but quitting “towards” something that brings fulfillment.

The visual reference offered by the SPECIA-L Wellness Web lays out what you already know intuitively but never confronted. It gives greater clarity in how you should shift your energy. Less in the life dimensions that you are already doing well in, and greater energy towards the life dimensions that leads to greater satisfaction. 

This is not as intuitive to do as it sounds. For many of us, we tend to do more of what we already do well. This could be partly because change is hard, inertia, and also because incentives influence where we place our energy. There is a risk that if we keep doing more of something focused on one particular life dimension which we receive so much positive feedback from, that it comes at the expense of other well-being dimensions, which can bring us fulfillment, but does not give us the dopamine hit of social validation.

While this may be a cliche example, for many, there is a tension between energy devoted to work and family. For example, you might be currently in a job that pays well, so your economic well-being is given a high score. However, you might have less time for family, so your connection wellness score might be low. 

It is not intuitive that we will then naturally turn our energy from our work to our family. More likely, we tend to do more of what we are already given validation and rewarded for, and avoid what is not working well. We might choose the dopamine hit of earning more, versus facing the pain of mending the connection that is broken in the family.

How I Used The SPECIA-L Wellness Web

I leaned on the SPECIA-L Wellness Web to decide whether I should continue on this third career break. A few months after I left my job in 2022, the stock and bond market slipped, stumbled and dragged my portfolio into a plunge.

The old me would have wanted to rush back to find full-time work to be able to make up for that fall in the value of my net worth. But this time,  before rushing to send resumes out, I took some time to review my Life dimensions using the SPECIA-L Wellness Web. 

Sure, going back to full time work will improve my economic wellness. But I was already intending to work on  two other life dimensions  during my career break, which is are connection “C”  and physical health “P”. 

Would it have been a good tradeoff during that time to prop up my economic wellness, at the expense of the opportunities in improving my other wellness dimensions? 

Taking just a minute or two to do the SPECIA-L Wellness Web review  will prevent you from developing a tunnel vision about pursuing only one wellness dimension. You are a whole person with so many life dimensions that make up who you are. Evaluating where you are along each of your wellness Life Dimensions, and course-correcting intentionally, is an authentic path towards your long term happiness and fulfillment. 

As for me, it made me decide to stay the course to continue my career break. I am glad I did because the market has recovered since. Mr Market can do what he wants, and I can decide what I want, based on my assessment of my well-being to ensure that my life dimensions are well-fueled.

A Reflection Exercise Using the SPECIA-L Wellness Web

So here’s my invitation to you. 

Using the SPECIA-L Wellness Web, reflect on these prompts:

1. Decide which Life Dimensions are the most important to you right now in this current season of your life.

2. Review your holistic wellness using the Wellness Web. How do you feel about your state of Wellness? 

Mark where you are on each of the LIFE dimensions. When you connect the dots throughout your entire Wellness web, you get a visual sense of where you are right now.

3. What are you grateful for?

4. Which life dimensions are improved through your current job? How important are these dimensions for you  in your current season of life?

5. Which life dimensions received a low score? How important are these dimensions for you  in your current season of life?

6. For the life dimensions that have received a low score, and are those that you deem as important in this season of your life, is a career break the right vehicle in helping you to pay more attention to these dimensions? 

a) If not, what are changes in your life you can make right now that will improve your well-being in these dimensions?

a) If yes, how do you envision a career break that will improve your well-being in these dimensions?

Let me know if this exercise resonates with you, and if you have further questions. I’d love to help you cut through some of your confusion surrounding your decision-making in taking a career break or not.