chapter 21: goodbye corporate life, hello radical sabbatical

leaving full time work and my homebase in LA for a year (or more?) to focus on travel, personal growth, living intuitively, and exploring my passions

My life has changed dramatically in the past 3 weeks:

I got laid off, decided to move out of my beloved home in Los Angeles to stop unnecessarily spending money on rent, and consequently broke up with someone who I thought I never wanted to live without – because right now, the stars have aligned for me to chase my dreams abroad and experience the joys of full time travel.

Instead of sitting at home applying to new jobs for perhaps months on end in this current economic downturn, which has hit my industry of tech particularly harshly, I am taking a sabbatical to travel, become a professional scuba diver, learn to sail, and live every day to its fullest while I have this golden opportunity to do so at 25 years old.

But before I get into my future plans, let me start at the beginning.

the moment my life trajectory changed

Three weeks ago today, I casually joined a check-in video call with my manager and abruptly learned that my position as a Product Manager at this remote, ~80-person writing-tech startup was being eliminated. Leadership had realized the company couldn’t properly support career growth for junior employees like myself, and needed more experienced product managers to do the work the company wanted to prioritize moving forward.

I totally didn’t expect it…

But I was honestly overjoyed.

I actually had been toying with the idea of quitting this job for about 6 months already – in my mind, it was not a matter of if, just a matter of when. Ever since October 2023, when my old manager (who I absolutely loved) parted ways with the company, my job had fallen into a state of chaos that lacked any personal fulfillment or professional growth.

My new year’s resolution for 2024 was to live intuitively, and do what feels right rather than simply what’s logical. Part of that goal to live intuitively involved promising myself that I would quit this job, and instead spend my time pursuing something that energizes me.

A job like the one I had is a diamond in the rough when you look at all the logic-based factors like financial compensation, work-life balance, and remote flexibility – which made it the perfect job for a nomadic soul like me who enjoys exploring new places without any location or PTO restrictions.

Many friends constantly told me they wished they had my job when they saw me traveling and living the lifestyle I’ve had for the past 2 years of working remotely at early stage startups while based in LA. They couldn’t understand why I would want to voluntarily leave such a cushy situation.

But – the intangible traits of the job ate away at my soul every day. I felt like my work had no purpose. I felt utterly misaligned with the leadership and the (seemingly net negative) impact the company was having on consumers’ lives. I felt stagnant and dissatisfied. I felt like I was misusing my time and brain power. It didn’t feel right.

I’m someone who seeks to prioritize purpose, fulfillment, and passion, rather than monetary gain and prestige – which is why I traveled to 70 countries and all 7 continents during college rather than worrying about how traveling might adversely affect my post-grad employability. My values also drove me to write and publish my travel memoir without any specific goal of earning money as an author. Instead, I wrote a book simply because I wanted to share my story and inspire others, even if only a few

I’m also someone who has switched jobs 4 times in the first 3 years of my post-grad career because each past workplace had stopped being conducive to my professional growth. I generally refuse to remain complacent, and urge others to embrace this same attitude towards life.

Yet, in this particular job I stayed… and had been intending on staying until the end of this upcoming summer. I figured just a few more months of trading in my time for money wouldn’t kill me, and a few more paychecks would mean I could bolster my financial cushion for my upcoming career break.

But, when frustration and personal misalignment with a job brings you to tears – which happened to me many times in the weeks leading up to being laid off – there’s no amount of money that is worth feeling deep down in your soul that you’re wasting your precious, limited time on this earth.

Time is, and always will be, more finite and valuable than money.

I can always earn more money in the future, but I will never be 25 again – untethered to any specific location with no mortgage nor long-term lease, not entrenched in a serious long-term relationship nor having any kids or pets that I’m responsible for, and luckily unburdened by any debt or financial roadblocks.

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

Last November, I wrote to you all about living intuitively and taking action “when it feels right” rather than when it feels correct or logical:

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about living intuitively. And by that, I mean, living by the notion of doing something when it feels right. Not because you feel like you’re supposed to do it, but just because you want to.”

That was my most well-received newsletter ever.

I am happy to say that today, I am 100% living intuitively and doing what feels right.

I am not looking for a new job. I am accepting that being forced to leave this job right now was meant to be. And now, all the upcoming months that I originally had planned to be working feel like a gift of free time placed in my lap – the gift of time that I can put towards making my dreams a reality.

I’d been considering the idea of a career break/sabbatical/mini retirement – whatever you want to call it – for a few years now. I had been saving and investing upwards of 50% of my six-figure salary for the past two years through consistently living below my means and always traveling on a budget.

So, I am very grateful to my past self for being so frugal and financially future-oriented, such that money is not my limiting factor in this upcoming career break and full-time travel era that I am embarking on.

On top of all that, thankfully, my layoff came with the financial upside of severance pay equating to about a full year’s cost of living in cheaper countries abroad.

So… no job tying me down ✅, no financial stress ✅ – the final thread to cut loose and afford myself the opportunity to take a year off and travel was unrooting myself from LA, the place I’ve called home for the past 2 years.

I very quickly found a subletter for my apartment who wanted to take over my lease (again, stars aligned!), so I will move out of my cozy little Santa Monica neighborhood at the end of April after some bittersweet goodbyes with the incredible community of friends and supporters I’ve been able to cultivate here.

On an emotional note, I have spent the past year of my life enjoying a truly special, healthy, loving relationship based here in LA – and the hardest part in this entire transition phase was deciding to leave this home for an indefinite period of time, which inevitably resulted in the end of that relationship.

It’s a tricky situation when following my heart’s desire to explore the world is at odds with my heart’s desire to continue feeling deeply loved in a relationship that really had no flaws other than our misalignment of our life stages and hobbies. But no matter how amazing the person or relationship, if the timing simply isn’t right, we both have to hone the courage and mutual respect for each other to stay true to our own dreams rather than sacrifice for the sake of someone else, at this young age.

From today onward, I will be following my intuition and turning all of my “I’d love to do that one day…” thoughts into reality.

my upcoming plans for my radical sabbatical*

*subject to change – just like how I wrote about how plans, and yourself, should be subject to change

If I’ve piqued your curiosity by telling you I’m going to uproot myself and embark on a journey of self fulfillment around the world… your next question probably is “Where are you going??”

After three weeks post-layoff filled with soul-searching, Google-flights monitoring, and color-coded calendar Tetris to make sure everything fits in together (I am still the Type A planner girl I’ve always been), I’ve put together a plan for my upcoming year that I am SO! EXTREMELY! EXCITED! ABOUT!

I selected destinations and activities that would challenge me, push my limits, require me to adapt to new environments, and open me up to new possibilities during this sabbatical of exploration and experimentation.

The way I see it – this upcoming year is me investing in attending the “school of life,” the same way that some people choose to invest in attending grad school.

*drumroll please*

PART 1 - back to backpacking: first, in a group and then, solo - april 5-19 -📍Mexico 🇲🇽

Today, I’m heading to Mexico for a 2-week backpacking trip with absolutely no remote work involved – a type of travel I haven’t done in over 4 years.

The first week, I’ll be with a group of adventurous travel gals – my first time joining a group trip led by a friend, not organized by me! – to surf in Sayulita and see the upcoming solar eclipse in Mazatlan.

The second week, I’ll be solo tripping. First, I’ll return to a familiar place, Playa del Carmen, for my 4th time in the past 2 years to do one of my favorite activities in the world – diving in cenotes. Then, I’ll venture to a brand new, extremely off the beaten path destination called Xcalack, a remote coastal village with a population of under 400 people. Its waters are rumored to be full of manatees and some of the most unspoiled reefs in the world… which sounds like paradise to me :’)

PART 2 - goodbyes across both coasts - april 20-may 17 -📍LA & NYC/NJ 🇺🇸

I just spent last weekend saying goodbye to friends in my old home of San Francisco.

I’ll be back in my current home city of LA the last full week of April to pack up my belongings into a storage unit, say my goodbyes to dear friends, and hit a bucket list dive in the kelp forests of the Channel Islands with some dive buddies from all over California.

Then, I’ll head back east in May to spend time with friends and family in NYC and New Jersey before diving into my big adventures this summer.

PART 3 - scuba diving all day, every day - may 18-aug 1 -📍Caribbean 🇧🇸🇭🇳

BIG scuba-related plans:

• My first liveaboard, where you live on a sailboat and dive 3-4 times a day every day in the Bahamas, with dive buddies from my group trips last year and new divers as well

• My first experience helping with coral restoration work in the Florida Keys, learning if marine conservation is something I enjoy enough to explore as a new future path

• My first step on the professional scuba diving journey - becoming a divemaster (someone who can get paid to lead guided scuba dives) at Utila Dive Center in the beautiful islands off the Caribbean coast of Honduras

  • Living in Utila for 2 months straight is actually going to be the longest time in about 3 years that I have stayed in one place without hopping on a plane!! Pretty crazy switch up, but I am so excited to fully experience remote island life, focus on my diving as a profession, integrate into the local scuba-centric community, and work on my Spanish language skills for this extended stretch of time

PART 4 - return of the backpacker/budget traveler, and emergence of the sailor - aug 6-oct 14 -📍Europe 🇭🇺🇸🇰🇬🇧🇪🇸🇮🇸🇬🇱 & North Africa 🇲🇦🇹🇳

After a quick stop back in NYC for a belated birthday celebration in early August with family and friends, I’ll be hopping over to explore Europe for 2.5 months. My loose plans include bucket list concerts and festivals like Sziget Festival in Budapest and The Eras Tour in London. I also want to prioritize under-explored regions that have long intrigued me like Eastern Europe and Northern Africa, as well as big bucket list experiences in countries I’ve already been to – such as revisiting Iceland to see the northern lights, and walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Oh, and perhaps the part I’m most excited about – I signed up for an expedition that involves learning how to sail in the Arctic. I’ll be sailing with a dozen strangers on this traditional tall topsail schooner called the Wylde Swan, pictured below. First, we’ll venture around the fjords of Greenland, and then sail almost 400 nautical miles across the Arctic Ocean from Greenland to Iceland, with the hope of witnessing the northern lights in the middle of the ocean, free from light pollution or civilization. I can’t describe how excited I am for this particular 10-day sailing segment of my upcoming plans!!!

the Wylde Swan in the waters of the Arctic Ocean

PART 5 - tbd! - october through early/mid 2025 -📍(probably) Asia/Australia 🇵🇭🇮🇩🇦🇺🇮🇳🇱🇰🇳🇵

Although it’s in my nature to plan things well in advance, I am avoiding over planning this year of travel – to allow myself to select places and activities that excite my current self, not my 6-months ago self.

Inevitably, I am going to experience a lot of personal changes throughout the first 6 months of my sabbatical that I’ve planned out thus far.

I want to leave the second half a bit more open, to allow myself the flexibility to adjust on the fly if cool opportunities arise once I’ve checked off my key learning goals of getting my professional scuba certification and learning how to sail this summer.

Some tentative thoughts for the fall/winter:

I haven’t been back to Asia since I studied abroad in Singapore in 2017 – which was one of the most transformative 6-month periods of my life – so definitely want to head back to that region and hit some iconic diving spots there like seeing thresher sharks in the Philippines and swimming alongside manta rays near Komodo Island in Indonesia.

But also, I know I can most easily get a working holiday visa and live out my dreams of living and (legally) working abroad in Australia, so I am hoping to hop over there and get a job in the dive industry for at least a few solid months of stability after the majority of this year being a whirlwind.

If I love it in Australia, I could see myself staying there well into the first half of 2025, but I’m going to allow myself to play it by ear.

On the group trips front – given all of my solo side quests that are in the pipeline, I’ll be dialing back my pace of hosting group trips. But, I’d love to go to India for the Holi holiday in March 2025 (and would love to bring a group of you with me!), so stay tuned and let me know if you’re interested in that.

I would also love to avenge my pre-pandemic self and finally hit Sri Lanka and Nepal, which I had planned out trips to in 2020 before the pandemic interfered.

By early next year, if I’m loving what I’m doing, and can continue to financially support myself without destroying all of my hard-earned savings, I’m not going to limit myself to any finite deadline of this being just a one year-long career break. Maybe it will turn into 2 years. Who knows… I am going to continue to live intuitively and make the most of my time on this earth.

Maybe eventually my sabbatical will bore me, and I’ll be itching to return to my past life as a Product Manager in tech — after all, I do enjoy the role and am skilled at it, and I imagine I could truly find meaning in the work if I found a team and product I deeply care about.

But, I feel like I owe it to myself to experiment with different ways of earning a living during my career break so that I don’t spend the rest of my life wondering “what if…” from the comfort of my cushy tech job behind a laptop screen.

if this resonated with you, let’s connect!

If you’re filled with many notions of “what if…” and are thinking about making a similar switch in life to take a sabbatical, make a radical career pivot, take a break from everything to focus on travel, or all of the above — reply and let’s connect!

Or, if taking a career break and/or prioritizing travel is something you’re considering doing in the near future, please also reach out and let me know what topics you want me to elaborate on in future newsletters, perhaps such as: how I mentally and financially prepared for this break, how I figured out all the logistics involved with such a giant life change and leap of faith, or how I strategically set up my upcoming year to best position myself to learn and grow. I would be happy to chat, and share my own knowledge and experiences with anyone in a similar state of mind.

There’s no law that says you have to do anything forever. And there’s nothing preventing you from going back to a life you once had. But, there are these golden opportunity moments, such as this exact moment in time for me, when you have to embrace risk and follow your intuition.

I am so excited for my upcoming journey and would love for you to follow along as I share my honest thoughts along the way :)

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🚨 If you enjoyed this newsletter, share it with your friends! forward this email, share the link, post it on your IG story… share it far and wide, please, if you find this valuable, inspirational, or insightful in any way :)

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👯‍♀️ join me on an upcoming group trip!

🤿🐠 may 24-28 = florida keys scuba diving and coral restoration

• For any certified diver friends – you know how valuable the coral reefs are not only for our diving experiences, but to the planet as a whole. I’m planning this trip with Key Dives in Islamorada in the Florida Keys where not only will you get to go diving in crystal blue, warm water, but also you’ll get the chance to learn how to plant new coral stems and get to participate in coral restoration on the local reefs! I’m SUPER excited about this and would love for any other divers out there to join us.

• Reply to this email or DM me on Instagram if you’re interested in seeing the full Florida Keys dive trip itinerary!

june nashville trip– CANCELLED 🥲

• Although I was excited about this trip – I re-arranged my summer schedule after leaving my job and now I’ll be living in Honduras for June + July to complete my professional divemaster training! We’ll have to all yeehaw and honky tonk together some other time 🤠

🌌🇮🇸 september 21-28 = iceland: northern lights, geysers, and glaciers

• If you’ve got the northern lights on your bucket list – this is THE trip!! Check out my IG story highlight to learn why this is the best time in recent history to see the aurora borealis.

• 9 spots filled up within the first 3 days of this trip being live (a record! so fast!), and right now it’s me + 9 girls which is honestly kind of a vibe… not that boys would be unwelcome, but hey ladies, let’s go on an adventure and get all in our feels under the northern lights together💃🏽

• View the itinerary and grab the LAST SPOT on this trip on the website

  • There is a chance I can open up a waitlist and add more spots once this last spot fills up – so if you are interested but can’t commit just yet, please do reply and let me know so I can add you to the waitlist and keep you in the loop about any options to still join once the initial 10 spots are full!

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📱let’s connect

If you’ve got feedback or suggestions for topics you want to hear more about, don’t be shy! Reply to this email or DM me:

• Instagram: @caitlynlubas

• Twitter: @caitlynlubas

• LinkedIn: Caitlyn Lubas (feel free to reach out if you want to talk about working remotely, transitioning careers, etc!)

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That’s all for now…

Remember, you are where you go – never stop exploring the world and yourself! 🌎 🌍 🌏

If you enjoy my writing in this newsletter, you’d love my book called You Are Where You Go: A Traveler’s Coming of Age Journey Through 70 Countries and 7 Continents During College.

Feel free to pick up a copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or reply if you’re interested in me sending you a signed hardcover or paperback copy :)