Taking a Leave of Absence

The next question is from Kabir, and they're asking us about a leave of absence. I really dislike my job, and every morning I dread going into work. It's a very boring job and my lack of motivation is creating problems. I'm contemplating taking a leave of absence as I take a step back and figure out what I really want for my career, but I'm afraid of the stigma attached to this. What advice do you have for someone in my position? A lot of thoughts, but a few different things. One, thank you so much for writing in and asking this question, and it sounds like you're really being thoughtful about your next steps. Sometimes we think of dread and we just want to get rid of it. Dread is telling us like a big red flag, "Something is wrong, and what are you gonna do about it?" And that is what I'm hearing, is that dread has come up and you just don't want to go to work. So I'm hearing it's a very boring job and you're lacking motivation. Then on this hand, "I'm thinking about taking a leave of absence, but I'm afraid." None of this is going away if you don't do what you need to do over here. So there are some decisions to make. And I'm also wondering, is your fear related to the stigma attached to taking a leave of absence? How are you defining how you should show up? Who wrote the rules that you are sticking to right now? This is an opportunity to rethink the rules. Who says you can't take a leave of absence? Who says you can't reconsider what your next steps are so that you can be motivated and put out into the world what you really want to put out into the world? You are limiting yourself. If a leave of absence is something that you have access to, first, that is a privilege. Take advantage of the privilege of being able to take a leave of absence and then going on the adventure with yourself of being curious about your next steps. When I think about not doing something because of a stigma, it's usually because I'm concerned about what people will think of me. Ask yourself some questions: "Why do I care so much what they think of me? Are those people responsible for my livelihood?" And then thirdly, "Would I be okay living the rest of my life in this job, not motivated, filled with dread every day, because I didn't make a decision that I actually have access to?" I think it's important to just really explore things from a point of view where you're being very self-reflective, because you can say that there's stigma attached here and that will keep you stuck in this job, or you can say, "Wow, I know I might feel some shame about this because of the expectations that are set and rules that...