Breaking from routine with a mini sabbatical or 'adult gap year' can be rejuvenating

abcnews.go.com:

If you daydream about getting a break from stress, you might picture a restful week of vacation or a long weekend away

If you daydream about getting a break from stress, you might picture a restful week of vacation or a long weekend away. But some people opt for something bigger, finding ways to take longer or more varied time away from the routine.

Mini sabbaticals. Adult gap years. Or just gap months. The extended breaks range from quitting a job to taking a leave to just working remotely somewhere new to experience a different lifestyle. It’s about stepping out of the expected and recharging.

That's not entirely new, of course, but the pandemic's upheaval of work life caused more people to question whether they really wanted to work the way they had.

Barry Kluczyk, a public relations professional who lives in suburban Detroit, had long wanted to spend more time in Seattle. But it wasn’t until COVID pushed him to fully remote work that he felt able to spend a month there, along with his wife and daughter.

“I wish we could have done it sooner,” he said.

The Kluczyks liked it so much they went the opposite direction in 2022 for another mini sabbatical, in Portland, Maine.

More companies are offering breaks as a low-cost way to address employee exhaustion, said Kira Schrabram, assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Washington. She is among leaders of the Sabbatical Project, which aims to create “a more humane relationship with work” by encouraging extended leaves.

“Companies are starting to realize burnout is an issue,” she said.

American attitudes toward taking time off are very different from European ones, which tend to put more value on vacation time and rest, said Schrabram, who is