Why brettsbatical?

Generally, I enjoy my settled life in Portland. I have a good community of close friends, am close to my family, and have great access to all the things that Portland is famous for. I enjoy a mostly rewarding career building technology and analytics tools for an energy efficiency consulting company. But I experienced a major life change last year when I divorced my college sweetheart. When my marriage started unraveling I realized I needed something to replace what had become a pillar in my life. I didn’t feel ready for another relationship, and while I enjoyed my job and am a hard worker, I decided early on in my career that workaholism is not for me.

I have always enjoyed traveling and adventure and before we got divorced my ex and I talked about how I wanted to go to Vietnam and she wanted to go to Thailand. While the unraveling of my marriage had many drawbacks, I found myself with complete independence in a house that was way bigger than what I needed.

In January, after buying my initial plane tickets, I got another cosmic sign from the universe that this is was something I should do. The company I had worked for for five years sold off my division to a competitor and three quarters of my immediate colleagues and all of the developers working with me were laid off.

Now I really want a break from the corporate game! I plan to spend the next six months jumping into new experiences, meeting interesting people, and pondering the future I want to create for myself. Hopefully without contracting too much severe blisters, sunburn, or diarrhea!