For anyone who might be new to this writing and this blog over the past 12 months, I'll do a little introduction to what the sabbatical is in my life, for those of you who have been here before, I'm sorry if I'm repeating it, but hopefully there'll be some different things this time.
In 2017 (actually the 20th of December 2016), I handed my laptop and phone to Marie, my PA at work and I left the practice in the bungalow we were in, and I went away until the first week in February.
I didn't have my phone or laptop, no emails, no calls, no WhatsApps or whatever.
I wanted to figure out whether I wanted to come back to work or not and also whether the work could live without me; both of those were true.
It was an extraordinary experience and probably one never to be repeated because of the way the world has moved on, but since then, I've done the same thing in the same format five other times (I think I might have lost count).
So, on the 23rd of December this year, which is fast approaching, I will begin sabbatical number seven.
What will happen is I'll leave work, I won't answer emails, I'll still write my blog, and any telephone calls will go to voicemail and be passed over to Marie to deal with. I'm not dealing with things at work, not the little bits, the day-to-day; I don't see patients; other people can sort that stuff out for me because they're better than me.
What I will do, though, and I cannot help myself, is to look at the big stuff, the bigger picture, where we go next, and the strategy of things.
I booked a day with our senior leadership team towards the end of January, which I'll prepare for.
There might be one or two other little things I'll do, and for some God-forsaken reason, I've encouraged myself to go and speak at the Bupa Dental Conference in January in Cardiff, although I will regret that when it comes.
And so, it's fast approaching now, fast getting to that time when people say, "Are you looking forward to your holiday?" (Ha!).
The other day, someone offered me a really good holiday read for my sabbatical.
I'm not actually on holiday, I'm on a sabbatical, that's different, but maybe people don't understand that.
I will spend a lot of my time writing, thinking, considering my navel, training to be better and just making sure that I'm totally delighted to come back to work again and again and again for the next 32 years.
It's an extraordinary privilege, but one that is open to so many more people than actually realise it; in essence, you just have to ask and save up one month's worth of money so that you can survive (It costs not very much to be on sabbatical by the way)
I recommend it.
If you do it, let me know and give me some tips to make mine a bit better, but always remember that everybody has great ideas of how to spend your time, but they don't necessarily ever embrace those to spend theirs.
Blog Post Number - 4026
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