1. The paradox of free time
In my work as an executive search consultant, I regularly meet people whose professional chapter has ended while the next one has not yet begun. In theory, this is a rare opportunity: time to breathe. Time to travel. Time to do the things there is otherwise never space for. Time people had long been looking forward to and that has finally arrived.
In principle, it should be a moment of relief and an opportunity for reorientation. Yet the opposite often happens. Instead of calm, many experience restlessness, anxiety about the future, and tension. Many people struggle to enjoy this time - even when they are financially secure.
Even before such periods begin, they often create more worry than happiness. Not because people lack ideas for how to spend the time, but because something else is missing: a clear sense of what comes next.
2. When a whole year doesn’t become a relaxing career break
The most striking example I encountered was a manager who left his company due to a restructuring. After his departure, he continued to receive his salary for twelve months, plus a severance package. Objectively, this meant he had an entire year to reorient himself and do many other things.
With a family and three children, there were plenty of ways to make the most of that time.
Yet later he told me that he had not been able to truly enjoy a single day of it. The fear of not finding another job overshadowed the entire year. In the end, he did find a new position - exactly on January 1st of the following year. Everything worked out well.
But the year itself was, in a sense, lost. Not because he had nothing he could do, but because he could not enjoy it internally.
3. When restlessness persists even without financial pressure
One might argue that in this case the concern was understandable. After all, his standard of living - and that of his family - depended on finding another job.
But I have seen the same pattern among people for whom financial pressure was hardly an issue.
A friend of mine was a local politician for many years. After fifteen years, he consciously decided not to run for the position again. At that time, he was not even fifty years old. The special circumstance was that he would receive his pension immediately upon leaving office, not only upon reaching retirement age. In addition, his wife also earned a good income.
What situation could be more suitable for taking a longer break and consciously pausing for a while?
And yet he immediately accepted a new opportunity for another political role - without any break at all.
When I asked him why, he mentioned several reasons: the opportunity had presented itself now, who knew when something suitable might come again, and besides, he felt he was still too young to do nothing.
4. Why uncertainty is so difficult for us
It became particularly interesting when I later asked his wife what she thought about the decision.
She said: “I think it’s good that he’s doing this now. Since then, he’s much more relaxed.”
That is remarkable. Objectively, he had no reason to feel tense before. So what had changed that made him feel better again?
The key point was simple: he now had a plan. The future and his perspective had suddenly become clearer again.
Apparently, there is a deep human need for orientation - for a sense of direction and for the reassurance of knowing what comes next. Doing nothing is difficult for many people not because they do not know how to fill their time, but because they do not know where it will lead afterward.
5. Breaks only work if we accept them consciously
That is precisely why it is worth reflecting on these mechanisms. Anyone taking a career break must not only have the time but also be willing to accept internally that the future may remain open for a while.
Many people try to close this openness immediately - with a plan, a new role, the next project.
Yet the real value of a career break often lies in the opposite: in consciously allowing yourself not to know.
6. My recommandation
When was the last time you experienced a phase in which you didn’t know what would come next?
Were you able to see it as an opportunity - or was it mainly accompanied by restlessness?
And if you were to take a break today, could you truly enjoy it without already knowing what comes afterward?
Because sometimes the greatest challenge is not starting something new.
It is tolerating that the next step has not yet been defined.
