You took a "career break". It worked out OK. Tell me how.

Post date: 2023-03-29 22:10:19

I'm on the verge of quitting my job without another one lined up. I'm in about as good as a place I could be to do this, though there's always risk, and I'm very risk averse, so please let me know various ways this could work out mostly alright. Or if not - scare the hell out of me.

I haven't fit in my new role, it's been a year and I'm stretched in so many directions I'm fraying. There's been health (physical and mental) consequences for this. I'm seeing a career coach, who is helping me sort out my options, but what I really want to do is take a few months (3-5) to upskill myself.

- I'm in a decent enough place with savings to keep myself afloat for 6 months, or longer (but I'd hate for it to be longer!)
- My current skillset is in fairly decent demand (SEO), although I'm not as good at the technical side, which I'd like to improve on
- My training goals are to improve my analytical/stats skills, notably SQL
- I also do Pilates teaching and freelance writing on the side, but that's not likely to make anything more than a little supplementary income
- I don't have any significant gaps in my career history, although my career path is all over the place I've worked consistently
- I have left jobs before with nothing lined up - and it's always worked out fine (once was to travel to the UK, where I got a job within 2 months)
- My current role has a huge notice period - 3 months - and the idea of grinding through 3 months then doing another job makes my anxiety tick up

What I'm really after is a crystal ball promising it'll be all OK, but of course that's not readily available in 2023. I'm based in London so my cost of living includes an insane amount of rent, but as I mentioned I do have savings, and feel like if I don't leave.... ugh I can't even stand it. Like, I fantasize about getting COVID to get time off work. I took a long holiday (3 weeks) earlier this year and was anxious about work the entire time.

So, dearest MeFi, when did you take a leap like this and was it alright, what should I keep in mind, how do I set myself up to succeed?

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