At the end of 2018 I left my long-time employer UBS without any plan or even idea as to what I would do next.

The company had gone through a major re-organisation and I thought it was the right time to leave.

On purpose I did not want to have a plan.

On purpose I did not want to know what I would do next.

I wanted to be able to wake up and do what I felt like doing on any given day.

But I remember how that very idea seemed stressful to people around me:

• “You’re soon leaving your employer, you need to know where you want to travel to”.
• “Have you applied to new roles yet?”

The first two months I did not anything else than going for walks, reading books, and having coffees (at least that’s as much as I remember).

After a couple of days in bloody cold and dark Finland (February), I decided to go to the US. I enrolled in a few marketing courses at MIT in Cambridge, MA (the appeal of name) and made plans to travel the US after that.

Later that spring I returned to Europe, went to spend some time with my parents in Croatia (cause they get older too) and after having been off the job market for 10 months I decided it was time for something new.

All the worries people around me had about the effect this would have on my CV?

In reality it had none. Hiring managers would tell me how great it was that I took time off.

I know I am privileged to be able to take time off. But I could not see myself continuing working until my retirement and then drop dead (sorry for the image, but that’s what I thought about).

Taking breaks is a game changer.

Don’t let anyone tell you that only 12 hour days are what matters in your career.

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