So here I am, more than halfway through another one of these January things I called a sabbatical, but we'll not call it that anymore.
Over the years, I've had many messages about this time off that I started taking in January 2017, some supportive, some inquisitive, some defensive and some really annoyed for various reasons, but it's developed into a different thing now, something different to that which it started, and it isn't really a time off.
It's certainly a time off clinical work, and during this stage, that's a bonus because it opens up my mind to other things; I have a real personal connection to my patients and, therefore, a real emotional connection if I get an issue of problems that I really feel I need to fix.
I also don't go into the practice or go into practice extremely little.
This year, I will be in the practice when other people are there for maybe one afternoon to meet a very special guest, but for the rest of the time, I won't be there.
And so, this generates an extraordinary amount of time that I would not otherwise have in any other month (apart from perhaps August), and then the question is what to do with the time that you have, and that would be all well and good if you're working with a blank slate, but it turns out that I'm completely institutionalised.
I had a meeting with Marie, my super PA, the other day. We went out for lunch to catch up on a few things and to set a few things forward for the coming year, and she said people were asking her how I was enjoying my time off, and she was replying He's spoken to me every day since he finished.
I meet Hayley once a week, and we scheme and plan for the year to come, and it's fantastic, and then I get access to some other people in different places, and then all of a sudden, I'm doing a little bit of work and then Alison's saying to me "I thought you were off work?"
The reason I'm not off is that when I have a little bit of downtime and the opportunity to choose to do something else, I choose to go to work; I choose to work on things I don't have time for otherwise, things that are exciting, things that are innovative, things I wouldn't have the space for; mostly on the type of work, I call non-urgent, important.
Very soon, I will go back at the start of February, and all the urgent, important stuff will return, and I'll start working on that.
Maybe next year, I'll return to the original Sab, the one where I hand my laptop and phone to someone at work and say, I'll see you in 6 weeks, but that's for another data plan.
Being institutionalised in your work is fine as long as you love your work, and I love my work.
As I say to many people when I'm speaking, teaching, or chatting about it, I love my work like I love my wife; I love it every single day; I just don't like it every single day.
In this time off in January, I pretty much like it every day, too.
Blog Post Number - 4056
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