In my early 30s, I was working long hours as the editor in chief of a magazine, juggling deadlines and the looming “should we have kids?” question — all while feeling completely wrung out. I drafted a resignation email.
When my boss called me in, she surprised me: “Take some time off,” she said. “Come back to manage a new launch later this year.”
My plan for a year off collapsed into two months.
It began quietly in India at a yoga retreat near Kerala and ended with an adventure in Indonesia, climbing Mount Bromo and motorbiking through Yogyakarta.
It wasn’t a true gap year, but it was long enough to reset. The next year, I stepped into my boss’s role, leading the creative team I’d almost left behind.
That experience made me realize that time off doesn’t have to derail a career — it can redefine it.
I wasn’t a student with few obligations or a 20-something who hadn’t settled on a career path. I was an established professional stepping away when the stakes were high.
Extended time off can carry long-term costs — lower earnings, disrupted savings, slower compounding — but for some, the benefits outweigh the risks.
David Burkus, an organizational psychologist and author, began researching sabbaticals in 2015.
“People report better mental and physical health, increased confidence, and a greater sense of purpose after an extended break,” Burkus told Business Insider.
He also notes the benefits for employers: Teams cross-train, share knowledge, and become less dependent on a few “indispensable” people.
Paid sabbaticals are still a rarity in the US. Society for Human Resource Management data showed that 5% of companies offered them in 2019, rising to 7% by 2023.
And despite employers not rolling them out broadly, employees are increasingly seeking time off. In SHRM’s 2025 benefits survey, leave was the second-highest priority for workers — trailing only health benefits — for the fourth year in a row.
A peer-reviewed study published in the Academy of Management in 2022 interviewed 50 professionals who had taken extended time off. All interviewees said they came back as better leaders.
DJ DiDonna, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and coauthor of the study, says everyone he interviewed wished they had taken one earlier.
DiDonna told Business Insider that the best times for a sabbatical often coincide with natural life transitions, like a honeymoon, a newly empty nest, or the “twilight career” stage before retirement.
This collection brings together people who took that pause at different ages, for different reasons, and for vastly different lengths of time.
If you’ve taken an adult gap year yourself, I’d love to hear from you at [email protected].
Credits
Editors: Alexandra Karplus, Meghan Morris, Lina Batarags
Reporters: Lavender Au, Toccara Best, Faye Bradley, Claire Drinkwater, Amanda Goh, Alexandra Karplus, Jennifer McGuire, Bryanne Salazar.
Design: Alyssa Powell
