BreakAway is pleased to introduce a talented and budding writer, AJ Earley, who kindly prepared this oh-so helpful post just for us. Enjoy!

Whether you’re just thinking about it, or are completely ready to make your break away, you’re in the right place. If you’ve got any long-term travel plans on the horizon, here are seven steps to make sure they go off without any hitches:

• Step One: Assess Your Financial Situation

So you’ve decided to take a long-term trip. Unless you have massive amounts of expendable income, finances should be the first thing you consider. How are you going to pay for this trip, and how are you going to stay afloat if you’re not working while you’re away?

Make Money

In the years/months leading up to your trip, you may want to look into auxiliary ways to bring in some extra dough.Whether you have a useful talent you can freelance out, you find some interesting ways to profit off of the internet, or you just start selling your stuff (you’re going to have to downsize soon, anyway,) there are ways to bring in extra money leading up to your trip.

Save and Spend Wisely

You’ve set a goal and you want to reach it, which may mean you have to change your lifestyle a little leading up to your departure date. From making a small adjustment to your thermostat to keeping a change jar, there are lots of ways to save wisely and spend wisely in the time leading up to your vacation.

Cost-Effective Travel

While away, you’ll want to make the best use of the money you do have. There are so many ways to do this, but your best option is to research your destination(s) before hand to find alternative accommodation options, learn the public transportation system, and mine all the free or cheap cultural activities and options offered.

• Step Two: Assess Your Home Situation

You basically have two options: Keep it or leave it. If you have a mortgage, or just a really great rental that you don’t want to give up, you may want to maintain your residence while away. Otherwise, I’d highly recommend packing and jacking.

If You’re Staying

Make sure your finances and budget are on point from the get-go. You’ll also want to make arrangements to have someone take care of your home/pets well in advance. This is a huge commitment from someone, so be respectful and give your trusted friends and family plenty of time to decide if they want to commit.

If You’re Leaving

While you don’t have to sell everything, it’ll be in your best interest to get rid of as much as you possibly can. Sans family heirlooms and personal artifacts (and that one cast iron skillet that you could swear is magic,) everything is replaceable. Don’t pay to store what’s replaceable, and don’t take up room in someone else’s garage storing things that don’t need to be there. When you do get ready to move, remember that you are also preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Organization will be your best friend.

• Step Three: Assess Your Work Situation

Whether you have the option of a sabbatical/leave of absence, or you’re just plain splitting, give your employer plenty of notice. Even if you loathe your current job, burning bridges is never a good idea, even if it’s unlikely you’ll never need to tread across them again.

• Step Four: Consider Your Health and Safety

This is probably something that doesn’t pop into everyone’s mind when they’re planning a trip, but these factors are important, as they can cause huge hiccups if not tended to properly.

Vaccinations

Depending on where you travel, you may or may not need to get vaccinations in advance. Some areas have very specific requirements, so do your research well in advance to avoid future problems.

Current Medical Conditions and Medications

If you have a current medical condition, it’s on you to do the research beforehand. Some conditions make it dangerous to be at higher elevations, while others make it nearly impossible to be at sea for long lengths of time. Know you restrictions beforehand. Also, if you are on any medications, don’t surprise your doctor: give him or her plenty of notice that you need an extended supply or a way to access medications where you’re traveling.

Your Immune System

Travel, especially overseas, can often be hard on the immune system, which is bad news, especially considering that some areas have higher risks for certain diseases and infections. Make sure you spend the months before your trip eating a healthy diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh produce is one of the best sources of immunity-boosting antioxidants, as are things like green tea, fish, and even cinnamon.

• Step Five: Prepare Your Travel Documents

Whether or not you are leaving the country, it is always a good idea to have an up-to-date passport, and you may also need a travel visa, depending on your destination and how long you’ll be gone.

Your Passport

If you don’t have a current passport, get your application in as soon as possible. Even something as simple as an unpaid speeding ticket can cause months of delay, so get started early. If you think you’re safe, still double-check to make sure your passport won’t expire while you’re still out exploring the globe.

Your Visa

Make sure you look into whether or not you’ll need a travel visa for your particular excursion. Most of the advice out there will say not to apply too early, because visas become valid on the date of issuance, not on your planned date of departure. While this is true, I highly suggest looking into the application process six months to one year in advance to make sure you have all the required documents and meet all of the qualifications.

• Step Six: Get Your Affairs in Order

When it comes to your bills, your bank account, and your mail, you’ll want to make sure everything is in order before you leave. You may pay all of your bills in advance, or have someone you trust agree to handle them. You’ll also want to have a trusted friend or family member receive your mail while you’re away. If you have any issues with a lost or stolen debit card, or forget to pay a bill, you’ll definitely want a friend back home on your side to help hash things out. Again, it’s common courtesy to ask people well in advance to help you out with this.

• Step Seven: Hasta La Vista!

Got the jitters yet? Whether you’re nervous or excited, you should take a deep breath and relax, because you are all ready for this life-changing event! Now all you have to worry about is packing wisely and making sure you have all the miscellaneous items most usually don’t think of until they are in desperate need of them.

Happy travels!

AJ Earley is a personal chef, freelance writer, travel junkie, and root beer float enthusiast from Boise, Idaho.

So I’m at a gathering and someone breaks out a travel trivia book. Live-ability, largest island, crime rate, what have ya. The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) makes the Top 10 crime rate list. But I guess aloud that St. Croix and St. Thomas probably account for that unfortunate distinction. Lovely places, but sh*t goes down.

I haven’t been to the VI in 21 days, but the sun still runs in my veins. That’s a good thing. Because otherwise, these MN winters can, like, make you crazy. I love it here. But the gray season can become an endurance contest. Who will win?

St. John isn’t perfect. But it’s close, as vacation islands go. Of course, you can’t really go wrong when you’ve got an island the size of Manhattan, only 4,000 full-time residents and another 10,000 or so peak season. Nearly 3/4 is national park. The friendlies are local, and the cool are natives. (Reverse that…)

That’s why I’ve been going, when possible, for nearly three decades. One time, I stayed for more than five months. More recently, my family of four stayed a few weeks and then headed south for 69 days of serious island hopping.

The water’s always warm. Roads are mostly twisted, and you drive on the left. (Why? Because everybody else does!) Frogs sing all night. The beaches are mostly public, pristine, and roomy. You can’t go wrong—and may want to add it to your travel bucket list.

But please: Just don’t tell anybody…

Join the digital nomads and me as we conquer the world!

Who needs a self-funded career break or paid sabbatical? We all do! But who goes global and gets paid? Digital nomads—who need only a laptop, a tech-savvy skill, and some seed money to get off the ground and land…most anywhere!

Local journalist Kevyn Burger penned yet another fascinating story for the Star Tribune. If you’re stuck, but your dreams aren’t, read it and reap. Meantime, my highlights…

• Life may cost less “over there”

Alicia and John Gregoire have been working all over and report that the dollar may stretch much further abroad than at home. I can echo that—with rich memories that include buying wine in Italy for $40 that was fetching $255 here and dwelling in a posh beach house in New Zealand for $80 a day.

• You may already have (FB) friends all over

The article quotes Lisa Walden of local generation-dynamics consultancy, Bridgeworks: “Today’s worker is more likely to have grown up with friends from different cultures.” She mentions SM, studying abroad, and evermore everyday networking opportunities as tools for the takeoff.

In my experience—some of which was before SM uber-connectivity—people were not only eager to host and help, but also willing to refer travelers to their own friends and family. Thanks to such “travel angels” I have stayed on a sailboat near Oslo, in a marble-clad villa in Tuscany, and in a mansion in Munich.

• Do your fiscal fitness regimen

That fiscal fitness link offers my 2c on funding a BreakAway. But for digital nomads, financial complexities may include how to structure your business, currency complications, and The Taxman (here, there, and everywhere). Need help? Travelpreneur Cliff Highman runs Digital Nomad Accounting. Nice niche!

• Backpacking and hostel territory optional

Let’s be real: Some of us have graduated from carrying life on your back, stealing food from buffets, and bunking up in crowded dorms. No sweat, say nomads Jeff and Amanda Sauer, whose “hobby” is seeking discounts, affordable destinations, and the miles-and-points game. Forget Paris! I once enjoyed a week at the Ritz Carlton suite in Malaysia for $55/night—with world-class food omnipresent and dirt cheap.

• Yes, you can bring the family

My vagabonding now goes back decades and has been alone, with a partner, with a wife and kid, and with a wife and two kids. It’s all good—even pulling them out of school. (Is there a better education than seeing the world?) But the best part is watching my kids grow up world-wise, craving adventure, and creating their own travelog.

In my research, the #1, #2, and #3 reasons that people don’t do long term travel are money, money, money. Yes, it makes the world go around. But now, you can become a digital nomad and go around the world—on the earn-as-you-go plan.

The world is ready. Maybe you are too? Bon voyage!

St. John, one of the three US Virgin Islands, hosts a year-round population of about 4,300, comfortably tucked into an island of about 20 square miles. By contrast, Manhattan is only slightly larger—23 square miles—and boasts more than 1.6 million full-time residents.

In New York, change happens in, err, a New York minute. On St. John, things change slowly; they call it “island time.” Still, if you want to see this gem—or any other dreamy destination on your bucket list—you better hurry. I’ve been visiting this island for 25 years—including one BreakAway that lasted five months—and the evolutions are often alarming.

• Souls come and go

25 years ago, what struck me most deeply? The culture, starring a bold, boisterous, colorful native West Indian population. They ran things, and as a guest, you followed their protocols and learned their ways—which had little in common with how things operate in, say, New York or Sioux City. Their society featured its own diversity, of course, from devoutly conservative Christians to fearless Rastas; from devoted businesspeople to the drunk, addicted, and downtrodden.

But on the whole, they ran things, and were omnipresent. Now? They can be hard to find. Shacks and shanties sit abandoned. Few kids run in the streets or shoot hoops in the public court—where the cement buckles and the broken rims rust. Their waterside hangouts and watering holes are shuttered. Their rambunctious roosters and raging reggae may have made sleep difficult, but louder still is the sound of this relatively bland silence.

Same holds true for the Salty Dogs—idiosyncratic characters who came here to escape something or somebody, drain Daddy’s trust fund, or chase some dream. Pirate Willy finally passed; his crusty blue Jeep no longer announcing his presence. Gift-shop-owner Marlene has disappeared, while a faded “For Rent” sign remains on her door. Health issues made the charismatic couple who hosted day sails and raised a family on their gaff-rigged ketch head stateside for good. And three delightful waterside restaurants rot in the sea air—their one-time proud owners (and immense investments) long gone.

• Development never stops

Back in the day, a smattering of houses sprinkled the lush, green hillsides that overlook enormous Coral Bay. A few intrepid bars, eateries, and shops carried on—when they could get the goods or the power worked or they felt like opening up. Now, needless to say, Coral Bay features dozens of establishments (and also dozens that have died). And hundreds of homes, most of them mansion-esque, perch on the hillside and rent for thousands per week.

Next? Nobody knows. But for starters, two competing, massive marina proposals (one featuring federal funding) are snaking their way through the bureaucracies. Hey, progress happens. At some point, somebody will pave this paradise and put up a mega-yacht dock, a fancy clubhouse, and, of course, a parking lot.

• Nature is under attack

When that marina shows up, mangroves, water quality, and creatures and critters of all kinds will pay a price. But you don’t need to wait to see the sad decay caused by development, climate change, and over-loving of the island.

Snorkeling? Some say the coral and sea life are 70% reduced from only 30 years ago—and my experience dubs that an under-estimate. Beaches? Rising waters and increasingly violent storms have reduced sand and ravaged plants; there used to be countless coconut palms—now they are rare. Seafood? One might think these remote islands would promise bounteous and cheap feasts. But no: The edible seafood is virtually non-existent, or often protected as endangered species. The restaurants usually ship their tuna, salmon, and mahi-mahi from New York.

• Travel still transforms and beauty still abounds…but don’t delay

Yes, the seafood comes from Manhattan. An island about this size, but somehow accommodating about 430 times more humans. And a massive seafood market.

Go figure. In fact, go. Just GO! Go to the Caribbean, to Vietnam, to Spain, to Manhattan to the Grand Canyon, to Grandpas, cabin, and to whatever happy place remains your favorite or has been calling your name like some distant parrot (that may be at risk).

The longer you wait, the more it may not look like that picture in your mind or on your screen-saver.

But the sooner you go, the more likely you’ll find what you’re looking for.

The holiday season comes loaded with lots of stuff. Literally, metaphorically, and beyond. When a WashPost article about the stuff of Christmas arrived like a big-box gift recently, many had to stop and think; the millennials don’t want the baggage of the holidays, but they crave the pomp and trad. The elders don’t want the responsibility and labor, but they adore the festivity and customs.

• Here’s an idea: Shake it up

My parents may kill me, but they haven’t yet. Nor will your rellies. Regardless of your rituals, why not reinvent the holiday season every year? There are as many ways to spend these days as people to spend them. Somewhere old, somewhere new. Something borrowed, something blue.

The holiday season may seem less spiritual every year. And yet, the churches keep filling and singing. The synagogues keep lighting candles and feasting. Black Friday keeps growing—and soon may be a whole month (or two). Why not? It’s the dark daze, and we need ways. To gather, observe, and carry on.

• Big Christmas
  • 55 gifts (per person)
  • 5,555 lights (per tree)
  • Yard Santas
  • Rum-soaked punch
  • Umpteen parties
• Little Christmas
  • Hand-made presents
  • Countless candles
  • A walk in the woods
  • BreakAway
  • Quiet presence

There’s a time for all the above, and endless ways to celebrate, commiserate, and meditate. Did I ever tell you about the ONLY time I saw my elderly Grandpa have a drink? (And we were close.) On a Christmas Eve. In a dive bar. No, a real dive bar. Blackberry brandy somebody insisted he sip. He resisted, then took a taste. And his words were, “Hey, that’s pretty good!”

Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Hey, that’s pretty good!

Teaching a writing course at an arts college and raising a family introduces me to creative, diverse youth—including Millennials. Their views about devices/SM/screen-living may be shifting: More and more of them have had enough. They can’t exactly turn it all off (who can?). But they now suspect that less is more.

Too much Facebook can make you feel like this.

• Try the itsy-bitsy sabbatical

Work, communication, and entertainment (and, of course, shopping) continue to become evermore screen-centered. So if you’ve got a, like, life, you have little choice but to stay plugged-in. That’s where much of your life lives these days.

Like my students, though, more voices are questioning that focus. This article by career coach Joyce Russell promoting 60-second breaks acknowledges that most folks are working longer hours (on-screen), but then asserts that the brain just can’t keep going and going like the Eveready bunny—without recharging.

• It’s your brain, stupid

Ms. Russell is on to something. She recommends you don’t just jump from one screen chore to another, but,

Substitute restorative activities such as listening to music, enjoying nature, meditating, engaging in social interactions, daydreaming, phoning your children or partner, reading a fun book, drawing or doodling.”

I’ll second that motion—and suggest adding some motion. As in movement. I work a lot at home, FBOW, but it DOES allow me to garden, kayak, and tend to the property in bits and pieces. Oh sure, I sometimes get sidetracked and lose myself to menial (or epic) chores. But often, raking leaves becomes quite refreshing when compared to managing more emails.

BreakAway from your screens and feel like this!

• Quitting FB = 😊

The old joke goes, Q: What’s the best part about not being on Facebook? A: Not being on Facebook!

Now there’s a stream of research finding that the joke isn’t just funny, it may be true. “Quitting Facebook makes you happier,” states a recent story with a sub that shouts, “Other studies have shown a link between Facebook and symptoms of depression.”

The study comes from the Happiness Institute in Copenhagen, and found that participants who maintained ongoing use of FB were 55% more likely to feel stressed than those who took a one-week break. One week!

Apparently, the perky, gloating trend of FB posts invites self-comparison. And who can possibly win against that nonstop Pollyanna, check-me-out! barrage? The study summarizes:

Social media is a nonstop great news channel, a constant flow of edited lives which distorts our perception of reality.”

As a fledgling humorist, I’ve tried to be funny, ironic, and maybe even snide on FB. How’d those posts do? Not well. I’ve gotten serious replies (as if people didn’t get the joke). I’ve received resistance. But mostly, I’ve gotten ignored. If there were a “dislike” button, I’d probably have a collection.

That, too, was depressing. So I, too, stick mostly to sunrises, kid pics, and the occasional look-at-this-cool-thing-I’m doing! post. FB aficionados “like” those.

Real life shows up in many colors and moods. Except for on Facebook, they all have their place. The richest and most complex are right on front of you. And no, not on that screen.

Are we reaching a breaking point?

Can you BreakAway?

It’s becoming evermore impossible to keep up with the wealth of sabbatical, career break, and related stories floating around the internets and beyond. So let’s leap right in!

• My favorite oxymoron: Play date.

(BTW, another fave: Play systems.) I remember a dad friend’s young daughter asking him after he got home from work, “Daddy, what’s my job?” He paused, and then nailed it: “Your job is to play!” She ran off, satisfied. Today, play can become uber-prearranged, mega-managed, and expensive (play date organizers charge $400 in NYC).

Childhood is how you learn the essentiality of freedom of time, space, and mind; it’s the original sabbatical that, gradually, Reality schedules out of us. We Boomers should rejoice about the free-range (and digitalia-free) childhoods we enjoyed. This article digs into this ever-vital topic.

• “Career Break,” the other kind

Rebekah offers career advice for Harper’s Bazaar—very nice—but reminds us that “career break” has another definition that may confuse our ditch-the-boss message. “Career break,” of course, can also mean that big moment that you get the big connection, job offer, or promotion to Assistant Manager of Sambo’s. It’s all good, but we hope the mixed messages don’t hurt our campaign.

• Super-singers need respites, too

There’s more to music than Spotify and your little Jambox. Real people make those sounds (sometimes), and then tour for big bucks (since few folks actually buy music anymore). From afar, their lives of sexiness, drugs, and limo lounging looks lovely. But if you’re TayTay, Sammie, or a Stylish lad from Any Direction, this grueling marathon probably gets tiring and tedious fast. We wish them well on their career breaks—and hope they truly have the guts to turn away from the limelight for a while.

• Ed Sheeran’s break: Volunteering at a charity shop

Okay. Ed is everywhere-all-the-time. So this story is suspect. Still, it’s been reported in major media, twittered to death, and been the biggest news for thrift stores since Macklemore. We wish Ed and the store well—and hope the throngs respect the merch.

• Leaving work early: An “act of courage”

A recent Hyundai ad (that you’re surely seen) states,

When did leaving work on time become an act of courage? It’s time to take back our lives.”

Alleluia! What follows is Dude driving off into the streets of New York (where there are no other cars!?!), a boss looking longingly out the window as the Hyundai zips off, and then the questions we are left with. Is this post-apocalyptic vision what might happen if someone left work early? Or is literally everyone else still toiling away indoors? Has that poor boss been working 24/7 for 55 years? Can a SUV really get you off work early? And to quote Peggy Lee: Is that all there is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSn2YrA7f_A

Stay tuned. We hope to hear more about these stories, including whether Hyundai Dude made it back to work on time the next day. I bet he did—if only to make that car payment that may keep him from really escaping someday…

“When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life;

now that I am old I know that it is.” ~Oscar Wilde

• Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

We BreakAway artists advocate saving money and taking temporary retirement occasionally throughout your life—rather than waiting until your final years—even if it means working a few years longer before closing time. Most anyone can get excited about this idea. Few, however, can prudently pay for it.

Tragically, few will be able to afford perma-retirement either. And that applies particularly to Baby Boomers. All 76 million of us—many of whom have already begun (or delayed) our proverbial walk into the sunset. A recent article from the local paper’s special section, “The Good Life,” paints ugly pictures of stormy sunsets.

• Consider the “facts” 

As always, research findings will vary. But in this case, the storyline remains consistent regardless of which digits you dig into. Consider these estimates from The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) or the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)…

2/3 of households 55-64 (pre-retirees) have savings equal or less than their annual income

1/3 have no savings at all

The second study (EBRI) offers more optimism, but still stings…

57% of boomers are prepared to support themselves at their current standard of living

43% are not 

The outlook darkens for various groups, including women, people with serious health concerns, and minorities. And as for young people? Their future looks potentially rosier—because though they’ve also set aside little, they have more time to save. (Do you think they will?)

• A dearth of bucks, but ample blame to go around

So how did we get here? After all, the current retired generation lives richly in comparison. Blame the death of the pension—which assured retirees a steady stream of income. Blame the rise of the self-funded, tax-free plans—which force folks to cut their income to save (or not). Blame the merciless markets of, oh, the last 28 years or so: Black Monday (1987); global crashes (late 1990s); the tech bubble bursting (2000); 9-11 (2001); the Great Recession (2007-09).

Not only has this unprecedented market mayhem repeatedly shattered nest-eggs, but it’s made would-be investors pull out at lows and forever fear investing. You can’t make money without stashing cash, embracing risk, and letting time work its magic.

The blame game never ends. Stagnant or decreasing wages (some say since the 1970s) means that even responsible, two-income families can be stretched. Income inequality continues to worsen, with the top 5% of Americans now controlling 54% of the assets, while the bottom 50% has 3% (NIRS). That’s rough, if not unethical. But nobody seems to want to do anything about it. We could go on and on.

• Is a crisis (rather than nice walks on the beach) on the horizon?

Funny. We’ve heard a lot of grousing about the impending student loan bubble fallout. Everyone (particularly politicians) likes to gripe about Social Security and other entitlements going broke. A few of us (like myself) like to point out the mind-boggling materialism wave that has inspired us all to “need” so many things that our grandparents had never heard of to the point that shopping is a popular pastime and Goodwills turn down donations.

I mean, go to a high school with 50% free lunch and most students somehow enjoy the latest iPhone, fancy sneakers and hairdos, and of-the-moment duds. They may be hungry, and their abode may be cold. But most got stuff. Expensive stuff.

In the American household, meanwhile, there may be no retirement plan. But the place is probably abundant with cable plans, wifi plans, cellphone plans, laptops, kitchen gadgetry, recreational gear, monster media systems, late-model cars, and more (including, of course, debt).

I don’t know who pays for it all, or how. I don’t know how my fellow Boomers are going to fare in their golden (raven?) years. I do believe in market forces that somehow, gradually, fix things (sometimes). But I also know those markets can be ruthless and wrong. And they don’t really care about people, individuals—not even if millions of elder-Americans end up living in poverty. Markets care about money.

Money. Numbers on paper or puter screens. We call the category of this post “Spendology.” But perhaps “Saveology” would better fit today’s topic. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could save enough to take just one three-month sabbatical in their life?

Wouldn’t it be even better if everyone could save enough to enjoy several years of relaxing retirement?

Good luck with that.

Roots and wings. That oft-used aphorism professes what most parents hope to grow in their children. And the highest and widest wing-spreading journey, for most, happens when leaving for college. In my case, the boy flew off to Princeton—a mere 1200 miles away, where he will, “play football, play baseball, and study my brains out!” Bye-bye roots, hello wings. Here for 6,000 todays, gone for…forever?

• College gets controversial

These days, college gets kicked around more than a Division 1 soccer ball. The mountains of student debt—a potential macro-econ bubble-crisis. The value debate. The lack of lucrative jobs for grads. The sports/pay debate, the sex (abuse), the (binge) drinking, the elitism, the multi-billion-dollar endowments (for the top spots), the specious school scandals, the online education (r)evolution, yadda yadda yadda. Rah! Rah! Rah!

• The gift of time

All those deserve examination, of course. But I think they are mostly distractors of what college (and by that I mean four years of focused study that results in a credible degree) is all about: The Ultimate BreakAway. Never again will a student of life receive ~1400 days to explore, evolve, and learn—usually with only a foggy (if smug) notion of where he is going, or where he’ll end up.

What can happen? Here are just some of the possibilities…

Leave home.

Leave friends.

Start over.

Listen more.

Speak up.

Learn fast, or…

Be humbled.

Fail shamefully.

Celebrate victoriously.

Juggle 555 expectations.

Fail again.

Try again.

Defy expectations.

Find trouble.

Change directions.

Change your mind.

Change the world?

Gain wisdom.

Gain weight.

Lose interest.

Fall in lust.

Fall in love.

Fall out of love.

Rekindle talents.

Discover a calling.

Change directions again.

Push your luck.

Pull all-nighters.

Study abroad.

Immerse yourself.

Perfect a language.

Take road trips.

Visit friend’s stomping grounds.

Get internships nearby.

Get internships faraway.

Ruminate, deliberate, contemplate.

• Travel, travel, travel…

They are lucky, these new wanderers, and I hope they know it. (The very thought of a self-directed four-year journey makes me green-jello jealous.) You can’t put a price tag on their new experiences. And yet, parents pray they appreciate the cost—which can quickly soar into hundreds of thousands—and make every dollar and moment count.

Back home, this dad pledges to glide along on a parallel breeze while letting go, yet also embracing our successful, if often bumbling, family experiment that went so well. For me, too, the new life starts here.

Still, as I garden daily and watch my friends the loons and wrens wing it through their annual cycle, I notice they stay longer and louder this warm year—chattering, scolding, laughing, raising their babies. Then one day, without warning, they fly away. The yard gets quiet. And they seem to take 18-year’s worth of sandboxes, whiffle balls, and snow angels with them.

I wonder where they are now, and long for their return. I know they may not come home, or any of us could get eaten by the wolves. All the more reason to rejoice in what was, and pray with passion for what will be.

Savor your Ultimate BreakAway, son.

And don’t forget to…text?

Can you change your life by taking 10 minutes a day to “slow down and soak life?”

In June, a group of wired young women posed that challenge to their online communities—and got 200 participants in 185 locations to take the plunge. They report that “97% met their pre-challenge intentions.” Many were rich in “aha moments.”

• The endless roots of SM

Our kindred friends at thebreakchanger.com offer the ever-relevant reminder that even ten minutes a day can change your perspective, mood, and (maybe) life. From “daydreaming on purpose to lying on the ground for 10 minutes to dancing in the kitchen,” turning off the relentless life loop can feel as freeing as flying.

So imagine the magic that happens from three (or 12) months away from the I’m-so-busy routine. The Career Break community and the BreakAway Fan Club preach that potential, yet live at least 97% of our lives as heathens—obsessed by our own to-do lists and called to various screens that look nothing like long-term travel.

The four BreakChanger gurus appear to lead rigorous online lives. Indeed, the 10-for-10 premise and audience roots itself in social media—a great way to find participants while also marketing one’s personal brand and, in these cases, professional services.

• Good for them!

So this idea is basically a win-win-win; it’s good for the Breakers, good for business, and good for the world. I love the simplicity of the challenge: Can YOU take a 10-minute break for 10 days? If so, how does it change you? There’s no word on whether fall holds a new opportunity to chill out for, say, 15 minutes for 15 days.

• Is the 10-minute meditation next?

While some folks worldwide meditate as a way of life, others dabble in it, rather like workouts and diets. And this dabble-practitioner (of all the aforementioned, I suppose) has learned one overarching fact about meditating: It’s hard work.

Achieving the discipline for the daily “sit” can become unattainable, annoying. Taking months-long classes can seem to drag on for years. The group quiet time can make one’s brain howl while the body craves a recliner. Outdoor walking meditation includes risks like boredom, insensitive panhandlers, and disdain for one’s climate. As for the full-day retreats: Those can compare to interminable experiences in hospitals (yourself or a loved one) and yet, at times, the blissy euphoria more often obtained from catching a nice buzz. Both may happen, over and over, during the same day-long retreat.

Yet those days are unforgettable, and certainly mind-opening. Even though nothing happened. Perhaps that’s the point.

So if our BreakChanger friends can approximate those lessons and find refreshment in 600 seconds a day, more power to them. I may be older, from Mars (not Venus), and less committed to online living. But having mostly fallen off my meditation wagon (as I do every summer, when I seem to “need” it less), that 10 for 10 program sounds pretty good right about now.

I bet it will work. In fact, I guarantee it.