Fantasy Open Thread: What Would You Do With a Year Off?
This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
For today, let’s have a relaxed, fun discussion: what would you do with a fully funded year off work?
Would you travel the world, learn a new language, take up a hobby, or finally tackle some big personal project? Spend more time with family and friends? Or would you spend the year reading through your TBR pile, taking long walks, and generally doing as little as possible?
Where would you go? What would you want to learn? What would your ideal year look like?
General rules for your consideration: your current job is waiting for you at the end of the year (if you want it). Your family doesn’t have any major health emergencies (and hey, it’s your fantasy, they could have the year off also). If you have kids, you can imagine what you’d do now or when you’re an empty nester.
For my $.02… it’s basic but I’d definitely love to travel. My husband and kids do not do well with jet lag so being able to make our way across the globe in a leisurely fashion would be fabulous.
In terms of other things, I’d love to spend more time on things that always seem to get pushed to the bottom of my to-do list: Pilates, meditation, cooking classes, maybe even a few weeks at a wellness resort. I’d probably take a break from my current hyperfixation hobby (gardening), but I would want to see a lot of botanical gardens.
(And shopping! Definitely lots of shopping. Maybe some classes for jewelry design also.)
(You can check out some of our previous fantasy open threads here!)
I think I’d want do something to fix our incredibly broken society. Volunteer hard core for a year, or pick one specific issue and do everything I could towards that. Hard to pick which issue though, there are so many.
I’ve done this twice (well, not fully funded, but with savings so that I was ok as long as I was frugal). It really gives you good insight into how much you can enjoy your day-to-day when you’re sleeping enough, working out plenty, devoting time to hobbies and volunteering, and spending lots of time with friends. I did travel, but nothing crazy; I have too much FOMO to go for more than a week or two at a time. I don’t think it needs to be a fantasy/ it should be something everyone considers on the table if they have the savings.
I think I’d sleep more, exercise more, volunteer some, and spend more time with family and friends, especially those who live far away. I would also start working my way through all of the fun but complicated and time-consuming recipes I’ve saved that I never get around to tackling!
I have a long list of things I’d love to do! Most of these are things I already do…just not to the extent that I would like :)
1. I’d travel, ideally 1-2 weeks a month. This would allow me to knock out my bucket list trips and do some great hiking, eat great food, see amazing scenery, experience other cultures. I’d get to have a regular escape from the NE winters that I dread. Current bucket list trips include hiking the Inca Trail then spending time in the Amazon, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro and then going on safari, visiting Egypt to see the ancient sights, seeing the northern lights, hiking in Patagonia, hiking in the Caucus or Central Asia, hiking in the Dolomites. I have overall travel goals of visiting all seven continents, all 50 states, and all U.S. National Parks.
2. My parents live near the beach – I’d log a LOT of beach time in the US summer. I live about 90 minutes away, so it’s easy to go back and forth.
3. Lean into my hobbies – I’ve run an ultra and done a few sprint tris/half and full marathons/other races – and have always had to cobble together not enough training. I’d love the time to truly train for an ultra and a 70.3. I’d take the cool art classes and language classes and tennis clinics that are only offered during the work day. I’d enjoy the ski slopes when no one is on them mid week. I’d get way more into my two main sports (even though I’m playing them both 2x a week already!).
4. I’d volunteer more – almost all of the regular volunteer opportunities near me are mid day/mid week and not conducive to volunteering if you work full time.
5. I’ve always wanted to take an EMT class and I’d do that – and maybe train as a volunteer firefighter too!
6. Spend lots of time with friends/family! If my days are free, then I can rearrange when I cook/run errands/clean so I can always be free to grab happy hour or dinner after they’re done work!
7. I’d get certified to ref my sport. Every time we have a club game the refs are begging us to get certified because they’re so understaffed – since middle school and high school games are too early most people with full time jobs cannot ref.
8. I’d try to become fluent in French again. I still keep up with it, but I’m no longer fluent. Between classes and travel to francophone countries, hopefully this would be feasible.
9. I’m passable at a lot of fiber arts but not great at any of them – this would be a great time to hunker down, take classes, and improve my skills here. Or try something new (I’ve long wanted to get into pottery).
10. I’m not terribly handy, but we have a tool library with a lot of classes. It’d be great to learn more!
My job’s busy season is approx. July – Oct, which is also my favorite time of year. I’d enjoy having way more flexibility than I typically have during this time.
There’s a LOT I want to do, which is good – I don’t do well with a lot of unstructured free time! I need a schedule!!
My government salary would, sadly, not fund this. But it’s nice to pretend!I would also miss my job. I work with awesome people, the work is pretty fun, and I love the mission. I’d be sad to leave it for a year, but certainly not sad enough to NOT go!
I’m 31 currently not tied down with a partner, kids, or pets so it’d be the perfect time to do this :)
Buy a truck and trailer and take my horse trail riding all the time. And mix some travel in–maybe the trips that sound like they’d be fun but are probably never getting to the top of our list (like Disneyworld as an adult. Like the idea, but there are so many other places I want to go above it).
This is a great dream. I would like to ride 2x per week, paint, and take furbaby out for lots of walks. I would make more extravagant meals with my newfound time as well.
I would keep up with my workout schedule, and do more meal planning and prep work. I would finally have the time to volunteer at the places that only have service openings during the workday.
During the cooler months, I would take the weaving course I have been eyeing and would take the time to perfect my sewing slopers. During the evenings, I would plan out my outdoor renovation. I would also paint the rooms in my house that haven’t been done yet.
Once the weather turns, I would dive into that outdoor plan, pulling out old plants, ripping up sod, laying paths, spreading mulch, starting seeds, putting in plants, all of it.
In the fall, I would take a month or two for a meandering, cross-country road trip.
ohh..id need to spend 6 months before the year off even started
making all my plans and logistics. So I can spend as much of each days doing things rather than planning the next thing.
I could see myself doing an international trip or 2, but spending most of a year on personal projects and hobbies would be a dream.
I’d find a rental in a warmer locale to set up as an artists studio for 6+ months or something.
Basically an artistic retreat to the country side for the year.