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I quit my job to take a sabbatical at 25

Hi, lovely people of Indie Hackers! 👋

I just published the first issue of my new newsletter, The biweekly Hacker. Every two weeks, I will share how my journey progresses, things that inspire me, what I created, and other goodies. I loved writing this first issue. Like, subscribe, leave feedback. ♥

Here's a link to the newsletter, but I'll also include the full story below. Besides the whole story, I've also included some links in the newsletter that you might find interesting! 🚀

https://www.getrevue.co/profile/twan/issues/taking-a-sabbatical-840729

Taking a sabbatical

In September, I quit the job that I had been working for the past six years. I felt that it was time to make a change, I was ready for the next chapter of my life, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for the years to come.

I decided to take a three-month sabbatical to figure out what I want to spend my time on going forward. I am 25 years old, so now seems to be the time to take the leap of faith. If all things fail, I can always go back to working as a front-end developer.

I didn’t feel anything for spending this time vacationing, which seems to be impossible with everything going on in the world.

Now is the time to experiment, to discover what I truly want to do.

Providing value

One thing I’ve never been great at is sharing my voice on the internet.

Sure, I wrote a blog post sporadically before, but things like social media and forums have never been my forte. So when I started planning my sabbatical, on the top of my list was this goal of “provide value.”

When I decided to share my voice, knowledge, and opinions with the world, I only want to do it from a point where I am providing value. I believe that only when you give enough value, some value might eventually come your way—May that be in new followers, fans, or money.

Working in public

The first couple of weeks of providing value were awkward. I felt like an imposter replying to people on Twitter, Reddit, and primarily Indie Hackers, who were building products. But the more comments I left under posts, the more I kept getting back positive feedback or hearth warming “thank you” messages.

Within a couple of weeks, I found myself going through my communities, leaving comments left and right.

It went from being awkward to something I love doing.

Around that time, I started to think to myself: “I need to take it to another level.” I need to get out of my comfort zone and finally start that thing that I always wanted to do, have the equipment for but never started because I always put it off for whatever reason I thought to be valid at that time; work in public, on Twitch.

Just keep swimming (going)

As I am writing this newsletter, I am concluding my first week of streaming, sharing every piece of work, things I backspace, my rants, and every mistake I make along the way.

Let me tell you this;

  • The first day of streaming was terrifying
  • The second day was scary
  • The third day I thought about quitting
  • On the fourth day, I was having fun.
  • And Today, I was looking forward to starting the stream.

Last week I read the Minimalist Entrepreneur, and what resonated with me were the following two fragments:

Most people don’t start. Most people who start don’t continue. Most people who continue give up. Many winners are just the last ones standing. Don’t give up.

Just get going, and keep going. Your failures will fade, while your successes will stick around and compound.

Looking back at the past two months, I struggled and fought with self-doubt and the imposter syndrome multiple times. But the only way I got through those moments was to continue working on the things from my to-do list and keep leaving value time and time again.

Just keep swimming, just keep going.

Here’s the link to my Twitch channel. Come hang out, share your story, or lurk in the background. 🚀

https://www.twitch.tv/twankrui

Thanks for reading, see you in two weeks!

With love,

  1. 2

    Loved this piece. Kicked up my motivation levels!

  2. 2

    I decided to take a three-month sabbatical to figure out what I want to spend my time on going forward. I am 25 years old, so now seems to be the time to take the leap of faith. If all things fail, I can always go back to working as a front-end developer.

    Now is the time to experiment, to discover what I truly want to do.

    I totally get this feeling... I'm in the same boat. I wish taking a sabbatical before your 30s or taking multiple mini sabbaticals along the way becomes more of a norm.

    Waiting until you're retired in your late 60s before you start learning or tinkering with things until you "have more time" feels like such an anti-pattern.

    I think what you're doing is smart, just pulling the handbrake and bracing the unknown, knowing that you'll always have a fallback plan. Kudos to you for being bold ❤️

    1. 1

      Thanks for the kind words Ancil! I really appreciated reading that last part of your comment. ❤️

      I totally get this feeling... I'm in the same boat. I wish taking a sabbatical before your 30s or taking multiple mini sabbaticals along the way becomes more of a norm.

      I wholeheartedly agree. Especially with how fast life flies by, particularly in this day and age, I think taking a step back once every while is not only a smart move, but it's necessary, and we should normalize it.

      Recently I came across a job posting from Buffer and listed as one of their benefits is a six-week sabbatical after every five years you spent at the company. Let's hope that more companies will adopt this.

      Source: https://buffer.com/journey

  3. 2

    Love it! Had a similar experience when I started streaming. I ended up not enjoying it that much, but I was glad I started so I could figure that out instead of always wondering.

    It's a great way to live, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone

    1. 1

      Thanks, Dan! Indeed, pushing myself out of my comfort zone has opened up so many doors and possibilities for me. It's almost always scary, but I guess that's when you know it's out of your comfort zone. 😅

  4. 2

    Thanks for being so transparent with your situation Twan! I really liked the part about the last ones standing. We're often afraid of going forward because there's always an unjustified fear of failing.

    Another thing to take into account is that being an expert on something is subjective. You don't need to be an actual "god" on a subject to share your knowledge and experience, because a lot of the top 1% of experts don't share anything. Just giving back to the community is a superb feat by itself.

    1. 2

      Just giving back to the community is a superb feat by itself.

      I can't agree more, Gabriel! I wish I realized that sooner, but hey, the best time to start is today, right?

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