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I spent the weekend binge-watching Maid — a ten-episode series about a young woman named Alex clawing her way out of poverty, domestic violence, and a family lineage of untreated mental illness.

Alex’s life was hard. The kind of hard I’m grateful I’ve never experienced.

The truth is: I’m extremely privileged.

Even in my most stressful moments, I’ve always had a roof over my head, fresh food, and easy access to healthcare. With a little planning, I’ve been able to say yes to nearly every educational or coaching opportunity I’ve felt called toward. As a thin, upper-middle-class, able-bodied white woman, I face very few barriers to getting what I need, when I need it — and being treated with respect along the way.

Yes. I am extremely privileged.

And I waste way too much time feeling guilty about it.

That guilt shows up like this:

• Working more hours than are actually necessary…
  ​because having too much free time makes me uncomfortable.
• Refusing to pay for support…
  ​because why do I deserve help when so many people have none?
• Holding myself back in my business…
  ​because wanting more feels selfish when others are struggling.

This is true for so many of the women I work with.

We carry privilege and a hypersensitive empathy for the suffering of others. We don’t know how to hold both truths at once. So we spend our lives breaking our backs trying to make it “even.”

But how many people are we really helping when we’re walking around with broken backs?

We’re punishing ourselves for having privilege.

We feel guilty that — unlike Alex — we don’t have to search the sidewalk for spare change to put enough gas in the car to get to the job that doesn’t even cover childcare.

We hate that other people are suffering.

We hate not knowing how to fix it.

Over time, that guilt festers. It distorts our reality (“You can’t afford to pay for support!”) and contorts our bodies (“Get back to work! You need to do MORE!”). We become obedient cogs in the machine that’s harming all of us.

But the truth is this:

Your privilege isn’t a problem. It’s power.

When wielded consciously, your privilege can empower your mind and strengthen your body, enabling you to disrupt the machine altogether.

Because when you say…

• I’m taking some time off to recharge my batteries.
• I’m hiring support, so I’m not so exhausted and stressed out.
• I’m going to go bigger with my business so I can have more impact.

… you’re not just helping yourself. You’re putting a plan in motion that disrupts the status quo and makes the world a better place for all of us.

You can use your privilege to contribute to large-scale transformation.

And it starts by saying yes to yourself.

That can be hard for your inner martyr — the part of you that believes you’re not really doing good unless you’re suffering alongside the people you’re trying to serve. But we don’t need to suffer to be of service!

In fact, quite the opposite.

The more resourced you are, the more good you can do.

When you do the inner work to expand your tolerance for ease and abundance, you have more psychological and financial capacity to use your privilege well.

And yeah, that inner work is uncomfortable.

But not nearly as uncomfortable as Alex’s life.

I wish I could give my privilege to Alex — but I can’t. It’s mine.

And your privilege belongs to you.

You can ignore it, or you can cash it in for a chance to help transform the system. I’m not saying that will happen overnight. But the choices you make with your privilege today will shape the future.

And it’s okay if those choices make your life better, too.

You don’t need to feel guilty about that.

Remember, guilt keeps us busy.

And busy people don’t have the capacity to change anything.

If you want to be an agent of change, you have to step off the hamster wheel that keeps you trapped in stress, exhaustion, and overwhelm.

Which is why I’m so passionate about time off.

Taking space for yourself is the first step to harnessing your privilege for good. It allows you to see exactly what you need to heal, what you need to change, and what you need to create in order to live a more easeful life.

That’s what I want for all of us — more ease.

When you step away from the daily grind, you reconnect with the bigger picture. And when you allow yourself to consciously leverage your privilege in service of that vision, your ability to help others expands tenfold.

This is the big mission behind Sabbatical School.​

To help entrepreneurs create space to tend to themselves, clarify their visions, and find the courage to bust through glass ceilings, kick “the man” in the balls, and help create a world where everyone is taken care of.

That’s what a sabbatical is all about — intentional space for healing, dreaming, recharging, and creating radical change.

Right now, Alex doesn’t have the resources to initiate change. She doesn’t have the option to find more ease. And she definitely doesn’t have the luxury to take more time off.

But you do.

If you’re ready, I would truly love to have you in Sabbatical School.​

Early-bird enrollment closes tonight.

If money feels tight, join before midnight to save up to $500 with the early-bird rate. I genuinely want this to be accessible for you.

I know it’s scary. And I know you can do it.

Let’s use our privilege for good — for others and for ourselves.

5 Concrete Changes You’ll See in Your Life and Business After Your Mini-Sabbatical

(Listen Time: 12 Minutes)

Listen Here.

Let’s get down to brass tacks.

Your brain has you convinced that YOU cannot take a sabbatical.

Other people, maybe, but not you. You don’t have the time, the money, the privilege, or the (insert your reason here) needed to take time for yourself.

I get it. I told myself all of those stories, too. For years. Until a frightening encounter with burnout left me no other choice but to do it.

(Sometimes we leap and sometimes we’re pushed, you know?)

I didn’t even know it was a sabbatical at the time. It just felt like survival. My husband wasn’t working, my business was struggling, and my body felt like it was one strong breeze away from disintegrating in the wind.

On the other side of my four-week emergency break, I felt totally transformed. And I realized, “Whoa — I think I just took a sabbatical.”

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Sabbaticals initiate change.

More specifically, sabbaticals initiate the right kind of change — the kind that pays off long after you return to work.

It’s a strategy to help you clarify what you really want and how to get it.

And with my help, your sabbatical will create the conditions for real, tangible transformation in your life and business.

I see these same results time and again in my own sabbatical practice and in the many clients I have guided and coached through the process.

And when you commit to taking a sabbatical in 2026, I fully expect you to see these results too:

We’re starting with inner changes and moving to external changes.

Regulate Your Nervous System

​(and make better business decisions)

With a month away, you’ll finally have the space to fully downshift out of the near-constant activated state you currently exist in.

A sabbatical gives you a chance to reset your system and feel calm, grounded, present — even after you return to work.

And from this place of steadiness, you’ll reenter your business with the gifts of clearer thinking, more effective communication, and better decision-making at your side.

Recharge Your Batteries

​(so work stops feeling so hard)

Depending on how depleted your energy levels are as you begin your sabbatical, you may spend the first couple of weeks in deep rest mode.

But once you’ve returned to a solid baseline state, you can begin recharging in more meaningful ways.

You’ll surprise yourself with what pops into your head. With what you really want to spend your time on. There will be moments of delight, and rabbit holes of curiosity, and maybe even long stretches of time when all you do is admire the trees as they dance in the wind.

You might even start to feel excitement about your work again — and see this energy ripple into everything that comes next.

Discover Your Alignment

​(and stop leaking energy)

When you step away from your to-do list — like really, truly step away — you start to notice what feels life-giving and what feels draining.

You discover who you are at this moment in your life and are able to start defining what alignment looks like for this season of your life and work.

After your sabbatical, we’ll work together to help you turn that alignment into actionable changes, so that the life and business you step into upon your return feel transformed.

Cultivate Your Next Big Idea

​(and start creating space for what’s next)

Maybe something new is trying to come through for you, right at this very moment, but your life feels too noisy to hear what it is.

Big ideas need space to emerge, and your sabbatical gives you that space.

And while I can’t promise you’ll end this short sabbatical with a fully fleshed out idea for a new book, offer, or direction for your business during your sabbatical, I do feel confident that something will become clear during that time — and it will unlock the door to the next chapter of your life.

These combined changes will lead to financial return on investment.

Now, let’s be realistic, you’re not going to come back from time away and immediately make more money.

But you will come back recharged, focused, and clear about what you want to do next in your business.

You’ll have a new plan and the energy to implement it. That’s magic.

If this feels like the exhale you’ve been needing — but also like something you want to do responsibly — Sabbatical School will show you how.​

This is where we turn the idea of time off into an actual plan that supports your nervous system and your bottom line.

I want to help you design time off that pays you back — not just emotionally, but practically and financially, too.

Early bird discounts expire at midnight on Monday.

Let’s start planning your sabbatical.

Yesterday, I received this message from a subscriber:

“I would LOVE a sabbatical and the idea of taking one thrills me. But I don’t have a rich husband. The only thing holding me back is money.”

Honestly?

It confirms what I already know to be true:

The #1 reason people don’t take a sabbatical isn’t lack of desire — it’s the assumption they can’t afford it.

You know you need a break.

But a month-long sabbatical feels like a fantasy reserved for other people — tenured professors, trust fund kids, CEOs with rockstar teams…

…or, apparently, solopreneurs with rich husbands.

If you don’t fit into one of those categories, you’ve probably assumed a sabbatical just isn’t in the cards for you.

But you know what they say about assuming.

The truth is: you need a sabbatical — and it’s more financially doable than you think.

Over the next few days, I’m going to prove it to you.

How I’m breaking this down:

I know money stuff can be overwhelming — so I’m going to make this as easy and digestible as possible.

Instead of cramming everything into one long email, I’m walking you through this in three short, focused steps over the next few days:

• Today: Free resources to help you discern whether you can afford a sabbatical (please don’t skip these — they’re foundational)
  ​
• Tomorrow: A behind-the-scenes look at how Sabbatical School supports your financial planning with practical, easy-to-use tools
  ​
• The following day: My personal financial story — because I want to fully dismantle the myth that you need a rich husband (or some other magical safety net) to make this possible

Today’s focus is simply this:

Is a sabbatical financially possible for you?

Before I tell you more about Sabbatical School, I want you to explore this question for yourself — with real numbers, not fear-based assumptions.

That’s exactly what these resources are designed to help you do.

Let’s get to it…

“Can I even afford it?”​

5 Creative Ways to Fund Your Sabbatical as a Solopreneur

Click here to listen. ​(18-minute audio lesson)

In this Sabbatical School podcast episode, I walk you through a grounded, no-fluff way to look at your actual financial reality — so you can discern if a sabbatical could be possible for you with the right planning and support.

You’ll learn how to:

• Get honest about where you fall on the financial spectrum (without shame or magical thinking) so you know if this is something you should consider or not
• Calculate your bare minimum funding number — the amount of money you need to save to pay yourself while you’re on sabbatical
• Explore five creative ways solopreneurs actually fund sabbaticals (spoiler: it’s rarely “having a rich husband”)
• Understand why your first sabbatical doesn’t have to be perfectly funded to be deeply worthwhile

I also share the story of my first emergency sabbatical — the messy, imperfect one that taught me why financial clarity turns a sabbatical from a risky fantasy into a sustainable practice.

If money is the thing standing between you and the break you need, this episode is for you.

Click here to listen to 5 Creative Ways to Fund Your Sabbatical.​

When you finish listening…

Because I really want you to see how doable this can be, I recommend spending a few minutes with the Find Your Sabbatical Funds: Financial Strategy Worksheet.

I made this worksheet as a companion to the podcast episode to help you move from conceptual understanding to personal, practical application.

Several people have asked why I’m giving so much away for free.

The answer is simple:

I know you can’t consent to joining me for this sabbatical journey unless you trust that this is possible for you.

So I’m giving you the resources to move beyond scarcity fears and limiting beliefs about what you can afford — and what you deserve — so you can decide whether this is a leap you’re willing to take.

Listen to this episode
Use this worksheet

And if you feel the door of possibility opening for you…

Join me in Sabbatical School!

Exciting news!

​Sabbatical School is officially OPEN!

If you’ve been craving real time off from your business — not a long weekend, not a “lighter week,” but real spaciousness — this is for you.

I built Sabbatical School because I kept meeting smart, capable business owners who were exhausted and convinced that taking a full month off was unrealistic, irresponsible, or simply not an option for them. (Lies!!!)

Here’s what went into bringing this program to life:

→ 8 years of personal sabbatical practice
​→ 6 years of coaching other people through sabbaticals
​→ 4 years of ideating on my vision for this program

Plus, three solid months of daily attention to create:

→ the Sabbatical School podcast mini-series
​→ the (very comprehensive) Sabbatical Playbook​
​→ the “What kind of sabbatical do YOU need?” quiz​

… and now, the Sabbatical School enrollment page.

Wow.

This has been a labor of love, and I am so excited to share it with you today.

Here’s what’s going to happen next:

Between now and February 5th, I’ll be emailing you more frequently to share practical lessons and resources about how to take transformative time off as a business owner.

Yes, I will also be inviting you to join me in Sabbatical School. That is my deepest desire, and I’m not going to bury that lede!

However, I believe that sales emails don’t have to be salesy. They can (and should) be rich, value-packed, and transformative in their own right.

If you want to learn more about how to…
​
​→ heal your relationship with time, energy, and productivity
→ organize your finances so you can pay yourself to take time off
→ use your time off in a way that makes your business better ($$$)

… I would love for you to stick around for these emails!

Even if you’re not interested in joining Sabbatical School.

By the end of this series, you will have a slew of new skills and ideas that you can implement in your business with or without my help.

And if you’re straight up NOT interested in receiving content from me about sabbaticals or transformative time off, you can CLICK HERE TO PAUSE ALL OF MY EMAILS UNTIL FEBRUARY 9TH. That’s when I’ll be back to regular programming. Take care of you, boo!

And now, here’s your first sabbatical lesson:

“I could never take a whole month off.” | How Solopreneurs (Like You) Are Actually Taking Sabbaticals

Listen Here (14 minutes)

I know, the idea of taking a whole month off when you’re the person wearing all of the hats in your business (and maybe in your family too) feels preposterous. Salacious! Maybe even downright offensive.

That’s exactly how you know this is something you should consider.

​This 14-minute episode explains what a sabbatical for small business owners actually entails (hint: it’s drastically different from traditional academic sabbaticals), why 4 weeks off is a magical sweet spot, and a simple first step to begin opening to the possibility of your own sabbatical, even if you’re unsure how it will happen.

Give it a listen. Let me know what you think.

And if you have any questions about Sabbatical School, hit me up right here. My inbox is always open to you.