I am approaching the end of month 4 of my career sabbatical. The "break" from my successful 20 year sales career (always field based, 6 figure, Senior title, individual contributor roles at 2 companies) was NOT planned. I did not think I needed or even wanted a sabbatical. For all of 2019, what I thought I needed was to step to the "next level" and, frankly, to figure out what that meant for me. By February 2020, as we all here probably experienced, my professional capacity was stymied by lack of adequate childcare (I am a single mother). Then, in June, my 45 year old brother died suddenly & tragically. On the first day of July I was fully separated from my career and "planning" to take a month or two to focus on my son and my brother's children. By the end of August it was clear to me that I absolutely needed a sabbatical for myself and my career - not just as a byproduct of life challenges. Question: how can I ensure that I stay in the driver's seat of this GIFT OF TIME which I have right now and not allow it to be JUST ANOTHER type of GRIND to get to the next phase?