I’m 39. I’ve taken a 2-month-long sabbatical this year, and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself. I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD/AS just before C

I’m 39. I’ve taken a 2-month-long sabbatical this year, and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself. I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD/AS just before Christmas, after having seen a psychiatrist complaining about chronic fatigue (cf. my Ask HN from two years ago [0]). The medications initially helped, but it was obvious to me that I also needed a substantial amount of rest. So when my company instituted a sabbatical policy soon after, I was first in line to take advantage of it. I split it in two parts. The first one was a long-distance cycle trip that I’d been fantasizing about for years but never had time; I did it this June and thoroughly enjoyed three weeks of exercising my body physically and letting my head rest for a change. After that, July was pretty much a staycation, do-whatever-I-feel-like month. I read books, met friends, played with my pet projects, started learning Rust. I also read more about ADHD and had some key insights which turned into some new habits after I returned to work this month. It might have been my most productive ever, even more so than January after diagnosis. Most importantly, I’ve been maintaining an emotional balance throughout that time; I don’t feel the weariness growing on me anymore. I think all that would be impossible had I not taken the sabbatical. This is just a datapoint, but I highly recommend it if you can afford it. As for the article, I’m not sure what I think about replacing retirement with sabbaticals. The idea is certainly interesting, but to me, while the two can supplant each other, they are not necessarily interchangeable. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29768418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29768418