Taking a career break: 'I was just very tired'
Journalist's pause opens new professional opportunities, insights
Mattia Peretti broke the news to his boss in fall 2022. He wanted to leave his job at JournalismAI.
“I was just very tired, and connected to the tiredness I was just not happy with the role that work had in my life,” Peretti said.
What would it mean to take work out of the center of his life, and build a new framework where work had to fit around everything else? To find out, he decided to take a career break for three months. He left without lining up his next role.
The first week of his break was confusing. Peretti found himself trying to reach the same levels of productivity in his life that he was used to pursuing at work.
“My brain had no idea what was going on, ” Peretti said.
Over time, he adjusted. He and his girlfriend went to Mexico for a month. When they returned, he started doing things important to him that he’d never made the time for previously, like running, playing basketball and learning Romanian. He started seeing a therapist.
Over time, his brain adjusted. Once he was ready to return to work, he had developed a new understanding of his professional identity and a new relationship to the role work has in his life.
Peretti’s career break roadmap
When planning his break, Peretti’s first consideration was, of course, money. He calculated what it would mean to go without a salary for a few months, and decided he could end the year with the same amount of savings he had currently.
“Not everyone can afford to do it. That’s an unfortunate reality, but I’m very aware of my privilege,” he said.
He was also very clear that he wanted to take a break and the time was right. Peretti has been considering taking a break for two years. He found it helpful to talk with others who had made a similar choice.
Peretti has offered to share advice with subscribers interested in learning more about taking a career break. Message him on LinkedIn.
Peretti worked with his boss, who was supportive, on hiring his replacement and making a smooth transition.
And he set this guideline: don’t think about work until you’re ready.
After four months, he was ready. Instead of jumping back into a full-time job, he eased in with freelance consulting projects and is now working on a fellowship at the International Center for Journalists.
The break allowed him to redefine himself professionally, adding learning experience designer to his former title of project manager. He doesn’t know if he would have reached that insight about his work while on the job.
“Our brain is constantly digesting experiences and learnings.
”When the brain has more time to do that digesting … we understand and learn things about ourselves that we would not have been able to understand if the brain just did not have the capacity and the space to get there.”
Now, he said, he feels the success of the break every day. While he hasn’t kept up with running and basketball, he is still seeing a therapist. His mindset has shifted, so he can prioritize things he wants to do. He can take an afternoon off to visit an exhibition without worrying about being available online for his team.
“What I really took away from the career break is this ability to give myself permission to put life first,” he said, “and then work has to adapt.”
Happy navigating,
Bridget
🛶 Learn more about Peretti’s career river from The Fix, and read about what he’s up to now at ICFJ.
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