[shawn]

I will fritter away my sabbatical, not accomplish much and end up pretty much at the same point (but with less money).

The best part of doing this myself was to become comfortable with this. At the end of it, you feel more free than most people. Or at least I did.

Becoming ok with not being defined by money or accomplishments is one of the nicer parts of growing older. You can finally relax and shed some of the angst from youth.

Everyone needs money, but ultimately if you live a simple life with simple tastes then you can still afford some gadgets to satisfy your hacking spirit.

It takes at least a year just to decompress, and then another year to become comfortable with not having anything to show for your time. That is the growth.