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My Sabbatical Smells Good – Should Yours?

by Ruth Ann Harnisch on 01/03/10 at 9:54 am

Day 3

If you have decided to join me on sabbatical (please do, even if you can only stay for a minute), here’s today’s coaching tip for making the most of the time away from your usual routine.  I got this one from my sister Carol several decades ago.

She was an artist, and worked alongside other artists doing interesting and creative projects for a major theme park. They did their colorful work on the park grounds – in a dreary, windowless structure that resembled a boxcar.  Sometimes the industrial setting felt oppressive. Carol had a solution.

She brought a big floppy hat to work, and announced: “When I’m wearing this hat, I’m in the Bahamas, and nobody tell me I’m not.”  So she sketched and painted “in the Bahamas” sometimes, right there in the middle of the boxcar.

I used that idea to take mini-vacations anywhere, any time. To a floppy hat,  I added a dab of Coppertone under my nose to replicate what I would smell if I were really at the beach, and to complete the sensory experience, a boom box with a cassette (I told you it was decades ago) of ocean sounds.

During this sabbatical year, I’m taking a cue from the Coppertone.  I am putting a little drop of lavender oil in a container near my bed, so that unmistakable fragrance will remind me that I’m not waking up to my usual routine.

Maybe you, too,  would like to choose a fragrance that will signify “I’m on sabbatical,” even if your time away from business as usual can only be a few moments.  When you inhale the aroma that you’ve chosen to mark your sabbatical territory, you will know what I know: I am in a different place right now, and nobody can tell me I’m not.