What Academics Say About Sabbatical Coaching
You don’t have to figure out your sabbatical alone.
These academics came to me feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, and unsure where to start — and left with a clear plan, healthy boundaries, and genuine excitement for their time away. Read their stories below.
"It changed the planning from overwhelming to exciting and inspiring."
"I no longer feel burnt out. I feel focused without feeling overwhelmed. I feel productive without overworking."
"Given that I'd had a number of prior sabbaticals, I hadn't imagined all the ways I would benefit from this program."
"Bethany showed me that rest is nothing to be afraid of. As it turned out, the rest and strategic planning she helped me find were exactly what I needed to have an unforgettable year."
"During coaching sessions, I gained practical tips I could immediately apply and, more than that, I had so many personal A-HA moments! Truth in advertising: the Reignite program is life-changing, thanks to Bethany!"
Pre-Tenure Sabbatical Planning
I am very grateful to have found Bethany and her Reignite program. Before coaching, I thought my sabbatical was going to be a long period when I would just work on my research nonstop—no wonder I wasn't excited about my sabbatical! Bethany helped me see my sabbatical time as a period in my career with distinct seasons: for me, part of my sabbatical is for resting and recovering, another part is for finishing projects, and another is for starting new projects. Each of these seasons also includes reconnecting with those things that make me happy. I have been on sabbatical for a month now, and I am able to enjoy doing research again. I am full of curiosity to explore the city and do fun things in the evenings. I cannot recommend Bethany's coaching more highly.
I contacted Bethany to help me plan my pre-tenure leave. My university grants one semester of leave following a successful mid-tenure review, and I wanted to make sure that I organized my thoughts, goals, and time intentionally so that I could make the most of the leave opportunity. There were several other factors at play too, including one of my children leaving for college and a trip abroad with my mother, so I knew I needed a structured plan to manage it all. Bethany's Reignite Program more than fulfilled my expectations in terms of helping me pull all of these different priorities into alignment. Bethany listened to me carefully and patiently, leading me through one step at a time of her process. There is a thoughtfulness in her program that I really needed. Bethany showed me how to set reasonable expectations and, most importantly, set boundaries around my time proactively. I am truly grateful that Bethany has created Reignite for academics, and I will definitely sign up again for my next sabbatical.
By the end of my third year on the tenure track, I was exhausted. I felt burnt out, overstimulated, and overwhelmed. I had said yes to every opportunity that came my way: research, conferences, service, for the sake of exposure and visibility.
When I completed my mid-probationary review I had a clear picture of what I needed to accomplish moving forward and included a one-semester pre-tenure research leave. I was deeply grateful for the time, but I also wasn’t sure where to begin.
When I read someone else’s reflection on working with Bethany and how transformative the experience was, it clicked. I had PD funds, I had the need, and I wanted to enter my sabbatical with intention, not just relief that I had this time. I realized I needed someone to support me the way I support my students —someone who could anticipate the challenges ahead and guide me through them.
That’s precisely what Reignite offered. The structure, accountability, and scaffolding I needed were all there. The weekly prompts helped me name and prepare for the complications and pitfalls I hadn’t even considered. I've just completed the 7-week program and have been utilizing the tools I gained throughout the summer. I no longer feel burnt out. I feel focused without feeling overwhelmed. I feel productive without overworking. I have time for my family and friends, and I’m even looking for a new hobby! I’m heading into my sabbatical this fall, not just relieved to have the time, but ready to use it well.
I’ll have the opportunity for another research leave after tenure, and I imagine the challenges and goals will look different then. I can already see how this program could be adapted to meet those future needs, and I would absolutely do it again.
From Overwhelm and Burnout to Excitement
I took so much comfort in Bethany’s program. She was warm, funny, accessible. She showed me that rest is nothing to be afraid of. As it turned out, the rest and strategic planning she helped me find were exactly what I needed to have an unforgettable year.
I found Bethany at midcareer, as post-tenure burnout and family responsibilities collide chaotically. My family is making financial sacrifices for me to take a yearlong sabbatical, making it an investment in not only my professional life but also in my family ecosystem. But like many academics, I don't thrive at inhabiting unstructured time, and no one has ever taught me how to do it. Bethany’s practical (and satisfying!) worksheets and small, sequenced assignments helped me to identify challenges ahead of time. Using her program, I've begun in advance to enact systems that will help me to reduce friction in my work and home life. I have clear goals for sabbatical now, and clear means to achieve those goals. Above all, Bethany’s program has taught me tools and systems I can use to slow down and enjoy this phase of complexly intersecting professional, personal, and family life. Thank you, Bethany!
I am so glad I reached out to Bethany to help me plan my sabbatical. Before I contacted her, I was feeling overwhelmed with developing my goals and schedule while also feeling anxious about "wasting" the year. Bethany helped me develop my vision and goals for my sabbatical, break down those goals and get them on my calendar, and create a daily routine that would help me feel refreshed but also productive at the end of the year. I now have a plan that feels exciting, flexible, and manageable, and I have a monthly check-in meeting with myself to keep me on track. I feel great knowing that my sabbatical plan will help me accomplish my personal and professional goals. I highly recommend working with Bethany to plan your sabbatical!
Before I started the Reignite program I felt like planning my sabbatical was another big overwhelming task that was taking me further from the rest and recovery that I actually needed. Completing the Reignite program helped me align my goals of rest and recovery with my other sabbatical goals in a productive way! It changed the planning from overwhelming to exciting and inspiring. I really looked forward to each meeting with Bethany - her ideas, feedback and suggestions were appropriate for me, not “canned”. She listened to me and I left each session invigorated!
A couple of months before my sabbatical, life shifted unexpectedly, and I found myself needing to reconsider my plans. I was overwhelmed by several major decisions related to both my family and my health, and I found myself more stressed about my sabbatical than excited.
Bethany listened attentively and offered thoughtful guidance and practical resources. Through her support, I felt more grounded, prepared, and accomplished. I was able to set clear boundaries, map out next steps, and create a structured plan and schedule for both before and during my sabbatical. Thanks to the Reignite program, I went into my sabbatical feeling excited and energized, instead of overwhelmed and disappointed.
From Uncertainty to Clarity
When I first decided to sign up for Reignite: Your Life-Changing Sabbatical I felt a bit lost. I knew I wanted to apply for sabbatical. I knew sabbaticals were competitive at my institution. And I also had two completely different ideas as to how I might spend my time. Working with Bethany over the past year has been incredibly helpful and encouraging, first while I drafted my sabbatical application and then again as I began to plan the details after having been approved. While my sabbatical plans continue to evolve, with Bethany's guidance, I was able to set clear goals for my sabbatical that made subsequent decisions much easier. This process may be more obvious to some, but navigating the various opportunities and constraints presented by the unboundedness of higher education can be overwhelming. Bethany's program helped me chart a course through that murkiness toward clarity and purpose. I am writing this testimonial about two weeks before the semester ends and summer break begins, after which I will be taking a year-long sabbatical, and I am looking forward to every moment, not just because it represents a change of pace, but also because I know what I want to accomplish, have a feasible plan, and all the support I need to make it happen.
I found out about Bethany's coaching program at just the right time. My family and I were originally planning to live abroad during my sabbatical, but due to life events decided to stay home. Therefore, my vision of what I needed from sabbatical was evolving. Bethany helped me feel excited about my sabbatical again and embrace a new vision that took advantage of the time and space that staying home would provide. She helped me think through my personal and professional goals, and encouraged me to narrow down my priorities. Through the process of working with her before my sabbatical began, I was able to delegate activities or tasks that didn't fit into my vision for my sabbatical, and set boundaries around the tasks that I chose to keep. She also helped me estimate the amount of time those tasks would take to ensure that I had adequate time to complete each project. Most importantly, she helped reflect carefully about what I would consider a "life changing" sabbatical. We are so fortunate in academia to have the opportunity for time away from our day-to-day responsibilities to focus on special projects, and I wanted to be sure I took full advantage. Thanks to Bethany, I have confidence that my sabbatical will be both professionally and personally rewarding.
Before I began the Reignite program, I wasn’t excited about my sabbatical and worried it would just feel like a regular semester at home with two course releases. As I worked through the program and coaching sessions with Bethany, I re-envisioned my sabbatical into an exciting semester with different seasons: fun, writing, rest, and adventures. I developed rhythms, routines, and boundaries that will help ensure that I keep my sabbatical focused on my goal of being a writer and focusing on my own physical and mental health.
I wholeheartedly recommend the Reignite: Your Life-Changing Sabbatical program to anyone embarking on a sabbatical. Before starting the program, my upcoming sabbatical felt like a big question mark—I was excited about the possibilities but unsure of how to turn those into reality. Working with Bethany was a game-changer. Her thoughtful curriculum and our coaching sessions guided me in figuring out how I wanted out of my sabbatical and then helped me take concrete steps to make that vision a reality. She listened closely to my personal and professional goals and challenges and worked with me to craft a personalized plan. The exercises and coaching calls gave me the accountability I needed to implement that plan. As a result, I now feel energized and equipped to have a truly transformative sabbatical experience.
From Academic Autopilot to Career Clarity
I knew the Reignite program would be good, but it exceeded my expectations. The worksheets got me thinking not only about what I wanted from my one-semester sabbatical, but also what I wanted from my career. This time to think, while I moved through Reignite's modules, shifted me from academic autopilot to reflecting on how I work, why I overwork in some areas, why it's difficult to stop working, and what all that means for my sabbatical. Reignite saved me from repeating old work patterns by both giving me and guiding me to find fresh ideas, tools, and routines. Bethany's coaching is incisive, and I experienced just how nonjudgmental and practical she is during the "Boundaries" module. I struggle with boundaries in a specific area: it's tough to say no to student requests. Not only did Bethany offer advice for proactively protecting my time and precise language to use with students, but we also identified why I want to help students, at times at the expense of rest and my own work. During coaching sessions, I gained practical tips I could immediately apply and, more than that, I had so many personal A-HA moments! Truth in advertising: the Reignite program is life-changing, thanks to Bethany!
Mid-Sabbatical Rescue
I was already 2 months into my year long sabbatical, and when everything started going differently than I had planned, I knew I needed some help. I found Bethany through a podcast episode and immediately knew that I wanted to talk to her. Over 6 weeks we took a good, hard look at my priorities, assessed the situation and came up with a good framework. It really helped me to have the materials and exercises to think through it all, and then move along the decision making and priority and boundary setting in the one-on-one meetings. Everything is so well thought out, simple, and Bethany’s warmth and empathy make it tailored and personal - and a truly helpful investment. Without the coaching, I would not have been able to set boundaries and cut some necessary losses with that much clarity. The new guiding principles and goals I set held up all the way through the year and helped me meet the most important goals that I had for the year.
I found Bethany through a post in a tenure track moms Facebook group, and I’m so glad I happened to stumble upon that post! I had just started my sabbatical and was feeling really anxious and stressed about it (which is the opposite of how I wanted to feel). I had a lot of goals for my sabbatical and I wanted to make sure I made the most of it, but I felt the time pressure of a one semester sabbatical and was just stagnating and flailing. Working with Bethany was awesome. She helped me prioritize and get clarity about what I really wanted to do during this time. We developed a plan for my daily sabbatical routine as well as weekly and monthly calendars. She helped me clarify my “guiding principles” which I now have taped to my computer monitor, and we discussed how I can use these to set boundaries and continue to say no to things that don’t fulfill these principles (both during my sabbatical and hopefully after it’s over too!). I will highly recommend Bethany to any colleagues who are preparing for a sabbatical!
I was just a few weeks away from the start of my sabbatical, and I didn't have any plan for what I was going to do. I was worried that I was going to waste this opportunity by just carrying on with my research as usual while not having teaching and service responsibilities. After going through the program, I had a clear plan (in time for the start of sabbatical!) of how I was going to make the most of my time and work in quality family time and other personal goals. I now feel set up to have a sabbatical that feels rejuvenating. Bethany was great to work with - all of the program materials were very organized and clear, and she was also flexible about switching things up to accommodate my last-minute timing.
I was feeling lost about moving forward with my book project during my sabbatical and felt like I was drowning in a million other tasks. Working with Bethany helped me reset my sabbatical, take a step back and look at the bigger picture as I'd been wanting to do. All of the modules had useful worksheets to help break down larger ideas into doable chunks. Articulating my thought processes during our coaching sessions and reading her summary of our conversation really helped to crystallize some important insights. I have come away with a plan in hand for tackling the task. I am grateful to have had the chance to work with Bethany, who has given me hope again that all is not lost!
Perspectives from Experienced Sabbatical-Takers
I discovered Bethany's podcast "Sabbatical 101" and found that the ideas resonated with me. I retired recently from my professor position because I want to spend more time on research and live a fuller life. I'm relatively young and in good health, so less a retirement and more like an indefinite sabbatical. Working with Bethany helped me focus on my main research priority—to write another book—and take steps towards that by writing a book proposal, getting feedback, sketching out chapters, giving some talks, etc. At the same time I was able to maintain work-life balance, spending time with family, training and running a half marathon, playing the piano, etc. Bethany is a good listener who understands complexity, and she is also an excellent communicator who makes clear (but not forceful) recommendations. The materials that she has developed for helping clients explore possibilities are very helpful. A sabbatical is a precious opportunity and I recommend working with Bethany (in advance if possible) to make the most of yours.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure there was much I could learn about planning a sabbatical, given this would be my fourth. But I felt something had been missing in the past; I heard people talking about their times away, and I felt I’d mostly “settled”—in part because of life constraints, and in part because I wasn’t sure how to create a sabbatical that made possible some of what I really wanted to do. When I learned that Bethany was helping academics craft thoughtful and planful sabbaticals, I wanted to try. I started the program with an abundance of ill-defined ideas but nothing solidly in place. Bethany helped me clarify my goals, identify my challenges, outline strategies for moving forward, and find ways to prioritize my own creative work. She was part therapist, part life coach, part colleague, part cheerleader; I came away from each session with a clearer and more nuanced sense of what was possible, what was important, and what my next steps should be—everything from seeking funding to finding pet care and locating a house sitter. Given that I’d had a number of prior sabbaticals, I hadn’t imagined all the ways I would benefit from this program; I’m headed into the months ahead with a clear set of commitments and a solid plan: to bring closure to existing work, to attend to creative projects that are often neglected in day-to-day life, and to ready myself for the next stage of my academic career.
Ready to Add Your Own Story?
If you feel like your sabbatical could be amazing, but you’re feeling stuck or unsure of how to plan it, click the button below to connect with me and learn more about how you, too, can have a life-changing sabbatical.