I Saved $200,000 for My Sabbatical | The Real Numbers, The Real Sacrifices | Week 2

Everyone's been asking the same question since I started this series: how did you afford it?

So this week, I'm going there. The real number. The real breakdown. The sacrifices nobody sees and the conversations you have to have before you can actually stop.

Week 2 of my sabbatical landed right in the middle of Valentine's Day — and before we get to the money, we have to talk about that. Because I am not a holiday person. Never have been. And watching so many of my friends spend the week in a low-grade anxiety about what someone else was or wasn't going to do for them made me want to say something. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture. But it should be intentional. And fellas — a romantic email would go a long way. I'm just saying.

Then we get into it. I saved $200,000 for this sabbatical. And I know how that sounds. So let me break it down — what that money actually covers, how long I saved for it, the $5,000 a month I was setting aside with intention as early as 2023, the investments that were quietly working while I was loudly working, and the invisible financial load that comes with being the person so many people depend on.

Because as a Black woman who supports her parents, her friends, and a team of about 10 people, the conversation about rest and money is never simple. The privilege of taking a sabbatical is real. And so is the weight of what it took to get here.

We also talk about the hard conversations you have to have before you can truly step away. With your family. With the people who depend on you. With yourself. Because you can have the money saved and still not be ready to stop performing availability.

And the hardest thing I saved for this sabbatical wasn't $200,000. It was the courage to finally stop.