In this episode, I share my experience of taking a month-long sabbatical during the peak of wedding season. I open up about the importance of creating space, recognizing the need for rest, and the lessons I learned during my time off. From dealing with unexpected health issues to getting the rest I needed to be re-inspired in my work, my sabbatical was not what I expected, but was exactly what I needed. 

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Like we took on so many travel weddings. We spent more time living on the road than we did at our own house, which by the way we moved last year. And so here we are just bought this house and didn't even get to enjoy it and got to this place of burnout and need for rest.

And I knew that something needed to change. So after evaluating everything and really intentionally planning for this year. I decided that I was going to take the month of July off from weddings and shooting and essentially put together a sabbatical for myself. So yes, July is the thick of wedding season for those of you who are photographers.

And I did it. So I'm going to be debriefing and telling you all the ins and outs on what my sabbatical was like, what my key takeaways are and all the things.

Shure MV7-1: we're going to dive in.

Shure MV7-3: Okay. I just want to say it feels so good to be back recording episodes and just like talking about life and business and all the things you guys, because if there's one thing that I learned in this, like a whole sabbatical, which I'm sure I'm going to say a lot of things I've learned in this episode, but like, Man.

Like everyone would just come up to me and be like, man, you're so busy. You're traveling all the places. You're doing all the things. And I got complimented for my business, but deep down, I was just feeling sick to my stomach. I was not feeling myself. And I was feeling burnt out. Like. Man who is that girl?

Because I see all these photos of the places I'd go and the things I was doing, the weddings I was shooting, and yes, I loved all of them, but at the same time, because I was stretched so thin, I was not taking care of myself. And I was just not showing up for myself, you know, like I was showing up for everyone else and doing all these things and really hustling.

And I think hustle culture gets way too much of like praise than it deserves because at the end of the day, time is the one currency that once you spend it, you can't get it back. And yet. Like I was feeling like, man, I I'm I'm feel like I'm doing all the right things, but deep down, I just kind of felt this void.

Isn't good. Right. Like, you need to have balance in life. You need to be able to create space for the things that matter. And ultimately, I just, wasn't doing that to the capacity that I needed. And maybe it's because I'm in my thirties and maybe I'm just like, not as young as I was when I was in my twenties and building this business from the ground up.

But I can say this, that I really do love my job. And I really think that my job is best when I show up in the best capacity that I can. And so just leading up to my sabbatical, I'm going to kind of share a little bit like what happened there, but, , it was planned last year and I blocked it off. I have a whole episode about like what I did to prepare, but essentially I blocked off the full month.

Like I prerecorded everything, everything was planned out and it was awesome. , and I automated what I could. So there's so much you could do with automating your business things that I wasn't doing, but having the sabbatical and really trying to like protect this time, like really got me to a place.

I was like, okay, I need to like automate what I can or simplify things and just make it easy on myself. So that was everything that I could take off my plate. I did. In terms of like things that were demanding my time now that wasn't meaning, oh, I'm not going to work, or I'm not going to touch anything.

Some people are more strict with their sabbaticals, but like at the end of the day, when I, when my clients are emailing me, because their weddings in a couple of weeks, like I'm not going to not respond or if I need to meet with potential inquiries, because people want to book me for their wedding. Obviously, I'm not going to just neglect that, but I did have boundaries in place.

So like literally two weeks before I started this sabbatical. So this was in June. I actually. I had some health complications. And basically I had this like really intense pain in my side. And I was like, oh no. Like I called my sister who was a nurse. I was like, what is this? And she kind of told me a bunch of things that could be.

And she was like, honestly, like if I was professionally talking to you, I'd tell you, you need to go to the ER right now. But as your sister, I think you can maybe wait, why don't you go in tomorrow? See what it is. So I went in and got it checked. We thought it might be my appendix. , thankfully it wasn't because I didn't, I didn't have like anything rupture or any infections or anything like that, but, , they did do some tests and some ultrasound and I do have like a large ovarian cyst, um, which. Is not fun.

Shure MV7-9: And so I'm still in contact with doctors. I still have more appointments to come. They're just going to evaluate things. It is a very large system. So the hope is that it will go down on its own and I won't need surgery, but there is a chance I do. And they also need a deep dive into if this is a symptom of a larger diagnosis and all the things.

And so we're still like in that process. So. Honestly, having this time and space to like process all of this and like rest and all of that was really much needed.

Shure MV7-3: . And I guess my body was telling me that I needed that too.

So that really put a wrench in things though, too, because the one thing, the one thing I did have on my calendar for this month was a triathlon, which at the time of recording, this is actually going to be in two days, I'm at the, it's like the very end of the month. And so my plan is to still go through it.

Um, and that's what we're going to do. So anyway, Just a fun fact about that. So leading up to my sabbatical, like just kind of had that in the mix, but like looking back like the first week, honestly, I basically like laid in bed and like heated my stomach and just slept in and felt super lazy because I, my body just like needed it. Like I had worked through a wedding and you know, that song from Taylor Swift's new album.

Like I can do it with a broken heart. I was like, thinking about it, like, man, like in this. It is industry. So often you just have to like do all this extra stuff. And like your clients have no idea that you're showing up to their wedding with like this massive cyst and you can barely walk without pain.

So people would keep asking me like, oh my gosh, how's your sabbatical? How's this going? And I almost had this like, moment of like, Sometimes forget that I was on sabbatical and like, forget about just like what was going on, because I didn't actually have a specific plan for it, which is a pro and a con.

Right. Like, and I'll get into that. But essentially I loved that. I just like took everything off my plate. So that then there was no specific obligations. Like you have to go to this wedding on this weekend, or you have to meet with this client, or you have to do this. And I already had all of my podcast episodes, prerecorded, so I didn't have anything I had to show up for, like in terms of my calendar, I had a pretty blank slate. And that was really good.

Intentionally, like what has been life-giving and what am I gravitated towards? So in that I was able to like work through and be inspired by like, what am I actually like, excited and looking forward to working on what do I, what do I actually enjoy doing? And one of my, like neglecting in my business and places that I would rather be spending my time.

And so I was able to do some shifting and rearranging and really thinking through, okay, like in terms of my routines, what do I need to be focusing on? And what do I need to be taking off my plate? I've found that I have too many meetings going on. I think I've committed to like too many days and too many meetings, too many things that are like spread out over the course of time versus like doing thing in batches.

And so one thing that I'm going to be going into. , as I come back from sabbatical is like really focusing on like batching and what a rhythm of batch work looks like for me.

Shure MV7-5: And just kind of like going off of that analogy of like too much of a good thing is so like for me, I used to be a distance runner. I'll use this example and I ran throughout high school and college. So like every MD. and you can imagine how many miles I put on my body just by running distance. Like, there'd be days where we're running like 10 miles.

I'm like a Saturday. And then, you know, throughout the week we're adding another, you know, 50 miles or whatever. I don't know. I it's been so long, but man, the miles were there and I was spending way too much time running. And what I found is like over the time of all the course of my life and maybe it's cause I'm in my thirties now.

And like, my body is able to do way more than it was able to prior when I was just running. Right. Like I tried. Doing some squats. And so we were doing back squats last week and. I got a PR like I was able to lift 105. I tried doing 110 and fell completely over. It was kind of funny. Um, but no, like I looked at that, I was like, wow.

I was not gifted with big arms. Okay. But I did have long legs and I've always been really good at running. And because that was natural for me. I just always ran and relied on my natural ability to do that, but never really challenged myself to grow in other areas. And so for me, it relating that back to business.

One thing I learned about myself is just like, in terms of spending time, like, I absolutely love working. I love my job. I love all of this, but I really struggle with like turning off the switch and actually like learning to like focus on other areas of my life, like in prioritize other things. And I just like, look at the trajectory of my life and. Don't get me wrong.

And like, in a lot of ways, it's like, man, I just like wish I had that time with him. And I'm seeing a lot of myself in him and I'm seeing like, man, like I have his work. Ethic. I like really do value, like customer service and this and that. And like, I see all of my strengths in there, but I'm also realizing like, man, but too much of a good thing. Can actually be a net negative in some ways, and like, cause more harm than good in like your relationships and things like that.

And so I'm realizing that about myself. And so for me, the sabbatical was just so great for me to just like do a full audit on like, where do I always hit the ground running? And then what are the other places where I'm like, maybe I need to do some more strength training or more spend some more time, like on these things.

And so for me, I've realized, like I say yes to so many things. Right. But every time I say yes to those things, I'm saying no to other things that I maybe should be, prioritizing, but maybe I'm just not.

But every once in a while you get hit with like, okay, wait, maybe I need to evaluate this because. I'm having a panic attack or like I'm starting to feel a little anxious or uneasy about things like where's that coming from and just doing an audit and figuring out like, okay, why do I feel this way? And for me, I'm learning that like, I care so deeply about what other people think and pleasing others and not disappointing others that like, I will give up my time to please others versus actually showing up in good capacity and like doing self for myself.

And so I've had to do a really big audit on like, what am I saying yes to who am I saying yes to what am I spending my time doing? And just making sure that it's in alignment with like what I actually need,. Because I say yes to some things I have to say no to others. And like for me, I've had to say no to my family.

And so going into a, coming back from sabbatical, that has been like a huge thing for me.

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And I've learned just like so many other things about myself, like I've learned to just like. Man, like, I really do value having like space on weekends where nothing is planned. I also started implementing and just like being a lot more intentional about having the Sabbath, like just for me, like actually having a day of rest.

And so that has been huge for me. , and then I guess in terms of like, what would I do differently when it comes to sabbatical? I feel like there's a lot of things, but, I think this was a great trial run overall. I think it was successful. I think going back to like, I had some health issues I had to like work through, I needed time and space to rest and reflect. Correct.

And just like, really figure out, like, what does balance look like and how do I want to show up? Like, there's just a lot there. , and I think in the next sabbatical, I think I'm going to plan things a little differently in terms of like, okay, is there a specific, like a couple of books I want to read or are there specific projects I want to work on?

And I need to just like focus on that one thing and all the other things can live there. But if I just have like show up in each day, I have my one thing that I'm going to like kind of give time and attention to, or however many days I want to do, whether it's like one day a week, I'm working on this.

And then I have a day of rest and I have a day to create like, Something of that, but I think just giving myself more of like this vision for the sabbatical will be really good, just because of what I learned about myself in this one. I've just, I am a little restless and I am a little like scatterbrained and I do say yes to so many things.

And I think for me, with the first two weeks of my sabbatical, like kind of out the drain with just like my health stuff, I felt like almost like, oh, maybe I need to like, do more of this in this. And, um, just that mindset too, that I had. Of like having this like expectation on myself of like pressure I was putting on myself just like, wasn't fair.

I was like, listen, like I didn't block off this whole month just to like, have us have a Saturday where we're stressed about stuff that like, ultimately can wait. This isn't urgent. This is not a client deliverable. This is not something where if we don't do it today, it's going to completely blow up in our faces.

So why can't we give ourselves this time right now to actually enjoy this beautiful summer day? The sun is shining. The weather's gorgeous. We can go to the lake. We can go on our kayak. We can enjoy like of mourning together. Like. Why are we putting this pressure on ourselves? And I think that was a huge, just like eyeopening thing for me of just realizing how much we don't do that.

Shure MV7-11: So if you're listening to this and you're thinking, man, I would love to have some sort of time like this, like sabbatical or time to reflect and rest and just think through all that. First of all, you need to be intentional. And I want to tell you this, because this isn't going to just happen. You have to create that space.

It will not just happen your time. And your schedule will be filled with things. So just really think ahead now and think through, okay, what do I need that to look like? And when can I make space for this?

So whether you want to look at next year and what you want to do in terms of your bookings, and if you want to block any time off, now's a great time to go in and block that off. And if you're thinking, okay, I also want to really incorporate a good rhythm of rest, and I really want to also do this with community.

So depending on when you're listening to this, you can either get on the wait list or you can apply to be a part of it. All the details will be there, but we are seriously so excited and it's going to be awesome. Ever since the last retreat we've been thinking through, okay, what do we want to do the next one?

And I'll be honest. I have not had capacity to think about or process or really intentionally think. Through that until, of course, during my sabbatical, that was one of the amazing things I got to process and think about. And you guys, I'm so excited, it's going to be better than ever. And we just can't wait to be in the room with people to really dive deeper and think through, okay, how can we all be more intentional in our businesses?

And we're really excited. So there's gonna be a lot of options. It's gonna be a lot of things that go into [00:21:00] it. Stay connected, follow us on, take your shot, collective on Instagram, and we will definitely keep you updated on all the things, but it's going to be amazing. And I would love to see you there in the room, getting that space that you need for your business and living a more intentional life.

Shure MV7-12: So with that. Thank you so much for just listening to this episode of the, take your shot podcast. It's not something I take for granted or lightly the fact that you're spending time, just like. Hanging out with me today. And so thank you. And it would mean the world to me. If you could leave us a review, subscribe on whatever channel you're listening on and go above and beyond.

If you really want to make my day share on your Instagram story, wherever you're listening from, take a selfie or a screenshot, and just share it on your story. Tag us at, take your shot collective. I look at all the messages and tags and everything that we get there, and it just warms my heart to see people loving and listening to this podcast.

And so thank you so much for tuning in today and we'll see you next week.