Brainstorming

[Scott 2]

The impact on your housing costs is incredible. That's less than I was paying for a 1 bedroom in 2003. And I wasn't in the city.


Ever work with a therapist? That's the catalyst for my weekly analysis and subsequent conversation. I didn't bite the bullet until my 40's, even though it would have very affordable with corporate insurance. I wish I had. Neglecting professional investment in my mental health was one of the bigger mistakes I made during accumulation.

I find accountability to the external observer invaluable, especially since they have the education and obligation expose my blind spots. The selection process is challenging. Not all can peer with you intellectually, which can become a waste of energy.

[brainstorm]

- What have I been procrastinating on lately? Why? (e.g. the point of the question is not to beat yourself up about it but to get curious about root issues. It may just be because you haven't clarified what it really is, could be because its not in alignment with values, because it implies facing a conflict you haven't acknowledged...)

- Any thoughts or emotions I've been repressing or not fully embracing? Any opinions/feels that I half-consciously think are 'inappropriate' and haven't owned up to?

- What would make today/this week / this month really, really great? (Careful with this one... not all days/weeks/months need/out to be omg-totally-awesome!! but it's good to check if you trend kaffic at all.)

- Any relationships I've been neglecting? Why? Should I boost them, cruise them, or ice them?

(I have these prompts in my weekly review template...)


I just caught up on your recent updates - exciting stuff! An autumn/winter fixie bikepacking trip on singletrack! Whoa! Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the great prompts! Especially the last one – I do journal about those I'm interacting with, but not those I haven't been interacting with lately. I think I would do better to check in more with a few friends. I wish I had journaled more when I was younger – it wasn't even on my radar until like the last year or two. Could have provided some valuable reflection. Not as hardcore as you

Interesting point about kapha/Ayurveda, I've never heard of it before! I think I'm a bit more pitta than kapha, but anyways the day/week/month-dreaming exercise will be pretty useful since...I've mostly just done whatever other people told me to (the school/W2 special)

[brainstorm]

The impact on your housing costs is incredible. That's less than I was paying for a 1 bedroom in 2003. And I wasn't in the city.

Yeah it's really accelerated things! I'm now a lot more interested in my exit strategy and extracurricular activities, since it's not a decade away. That's part of why I want to journal more this year, to just spend more time thinking about it and experimenting. Also...feels like the pressure is off since I don't need to bring in the big bucks to afford a <20K lifestyle. Not to mention the other social/personal/location/lifestyle benefits of the change too.

Ever work with a therapist? That's the catalyst for my weekly analysis and subsequent conversation. I didn't bite the bullet until my 40's, even though it would have very affordable with corporate insurance. I wish I had. Neglecting professional investment in my mental health was one of the bigger mistakes I made during accumulation.

I find accountability to the external observer invaluable, especially since they have the education and obligation expose my blind spots. The selection process is challenging. Not all can peer with you intellectually, which can become a waste of energy.

I've worked with a few therapists before! Overall I think it can be very useful if it's a good match.

My first one was in grad school cuz I was feeling anxious in a fairly high-pressure program + interviews for internships + my dad had recently passed away. It was pretty good, not revolutionary, but it was my first introduction to mindfulness, breathwork, and basic awareness / check-ins of how I'm feeling and why. Useful skills.

I graduated and got off that sweet student health insurance plan (visits were only $20), and after a while tried out a few through my workplace – got 6 free visits through SpringHealth – but was disappointed in the few that I met with.

My most recent one (that I'm not currently seeing) was *super* helpful. I got a concussion last year and got pretty emotionally unbalanced, very anxious and depressed. The depressive symptoms kinda went away on their own, but together we worked through some CBT exercises and discussions that I still find helpful to draw upon. And she also got me into unguided meditation, which I've done almost every day since then. It was expensive, around $150? per session, but it was outcome-driven so we stopped after around 5 months when things were going much better Hard agree on the search being difficult and that the accountability is great. Something for me to keep in mind.

I guess my current perspective on therapy is: I'm going to try to practice the skills on my own, and to learn more about myself and the techniques that are out there (particularly CBT and DBT to start). There's no substitute for doing the work yourself, even if you do see somebody regularly. But I'll plan to talk to a professional if I'm feeling significant distress or disruption in my ability to function and/or I want to expose some blind spots. I think I can improve in awareness a lot, and I can do at least some of the work myself (feelings wheel etc).

[TrailMix]

Hey Brainstorm, read through you journal. Congratulations on going from x6 to x22! And in less than one year, that is very impressive.

+ Gave up coffee for green tea instead. I do really miss coffee at times…but with tea my energy is higher and much smoother. Not sure what's in this stuff!! Anxiety seems down too (although it’s tough to tell where the baseline is right now with the moving stressors). In general I’d like to build and maintain habits that help me feel better and do more things that I want to (reasonable, I think), and on that criteria this passes. So I don’t have any plans to go back. Decaf coffee is an easy option for cravings anyways.

It might be L-theanine. You can buy it in powder form, maybe you could add that to your coffee? (Not sure if L-theanine has any taste to it)

So, I would love to hear any journaling prompts that you have found particularly useful.

I started journaling as a new years resolution for 2020 (an apt year too). One thing I can't recommend enough for those just starting out is a prompt deck. There's plenty of free prompt lists on the internet, but you can buy dedicated card decks too. During the first year of journaling, I found out that it's not that hard to figure out what to write about. The difficult part is writing in the quality and quantity that you desire. The prompt decks help you develop the ability to write and keep going. If you can write ad hoc about anything, you will be able to answer the really important prompts, like the ones you quoted, more to your liking.

Looking at my first journal, the entries seem short and underdeveloped. At the beginning I had to force myself to write a page, then two pages, etc. Now I set a timer and write for however long I have to spare that day. It takes no effort to write to a certain length anymore, and its all about how I write it, even if its about the clouds or weather that day. Using random prompts definitely helped me improve.

Edit: Forgot to mention this. Workbooks are not for everyone, but it sounds like it might be worthwhile for your DIY-leaning goals. They have another version for stress and relaxation that is great too.

[VolcanicAsh]

Thanks, ertyu, for the thoughtful suggestions. You raise some good points!

I haven't heard of the separate spending card approach before, but it certainly makes sense. I think what I like is the immediate feedback of it, that I can just log in and see my balance without doing any mental gymnastics – it acts as a good ledger for me. The approach you describe would preserve this while still creating separation from my "main" card/account, which seems great. I wouldn't like to lose those funds by fraud or theft! But I've also been wondering what exactly I need that feedback for. It helps with identifying surplus funds, which either get invested on top of my recurring transfers (majority) or perhaps also for getting a pizza when I might not normally have (minority). So, net positive? It's not a large sum that gets spent, but I still need to reflect more on why having $X "left over" means go ahead with buying something. How am I feeling when I am most inclined to spend frivolously?

About cars, I certainly can! I've realized that a good part of it is my own impatience, not theirs, despite what my internal narrative said. Observation without judgment and loving-kindness are very common practices, but it feels like I've largely left them out of my daily life. So lots of room to improve in this area, but since realizing this my rides have been much more positive.

I picked up a pamphlet at the Buddhist temple and of their six Right Livelihood guidelines, several stuck out to me:

There's a lot more good stuff in there, which I'll try to sit on in the coming weeks.

On another note, I enjoy baking and this weekend made my first whole wheat loaf. It turned out great! It had a moist crumb with a subtle flavor and fairly soft crust. I'd definitely like to make it again.

I too recently stopped by my local Buddhist temple, I find Zen and other similar schools of thought such as Daoism incredibly insightful. They've really helped me step out of the INTJ over-analysis and into just experiencing reality a bit more. Are there any other philosophical influences that you enjoy?

[FunkyFreedom]

Hi Brainstorm,

I just caught up on your journal. I’m pretty new to journaling here too. Thank you for sharing!

I am in my mid-40s and live in a HCOL area with my partner. I’m inspired by you folks who are able to spend so little! My savings rate is about 50% or so, and I will be trying to find places to reduce expenses this year and might be able to cut $300 or so. But my needs/wants for shelter plus higher expenses in the HCOL area probably mean bigger savings will be harder to find. And so, probable more years to FI or semi-FI. I like the power of reducing that annual expenses in the NW/AE ratio and am looking forward to learning what I can do there this year!

@VolcanicAsh — I too recently stopped by my local Buddhist temple, I find Zen and other similar schools of thought such as Daoism incredibly insightful. They've really helped me step out of the INTJ over-analysis and into just experiencing reality a bit more. Are there any other philosophical influences that you enjoy?

Yes, internalizing Eastern philosophy, “letting go” and wu-wei have helped me step out of my original INTJ mode somewhat. Eventual RE or semi-RE will help me step more out of that mode (which I don’t dislike per se!) and into my creative side that enjoys being present, going with the flow, exploration, networking, and being open to serendipity.. I’m more of an XNXX now overall. Probably more of an INTJ at work. It will be nice to see who I get to be with FI.

I’m looking forward to learning what’s next for you!

Sincerely,
Funky Freedom

[brainstorm]

@TrailMix

Thanks! It surely has been an interesting year with lots of change.

I've actually taken L-theanine before, and it helped to smooth out the rush (for a while at least). Still, it feels simpler to just use tea (or no caffeine at all), so I'll probably take a break once my current stash is used up. I guess I'm in my monk era. But who knows, maybe I'll get off the wagon in the future and grab some as supplements.

Appreciate the prompt deck and workbook recommendations! I'll check them out – I've enjoyed doing morning pages in the past, albeit promptless.

@VolcanicAsh

I'm glad you found them useful! I also enjoy the "experiencing" time quite a lot. The Zen temple here is very nice, if you haven't already visited. I had a Christian phase in middle school, although I didn't really believe all of it and just because I worked at the church, but otherwise haven't explored too many philosophies. Buddhism has remained interesting to me in a way that others haven't, so I give it whatever time I can manage.

@FunkyFreedom

Welcome! Keep it up! Saving 50% of your income is great, and it's also what enabled me to make some big strides in the past few months. The thing I'm learning is that there are lots more opportunities out there than you might initially think. Like for shelter, you may have communities, co-ops, vehicles, or work-for-room and board relationships. They tend to fly under the radar though, so it just takes some investigation and an open mind.

It's helped me to identify the high-leverage points too, like housing, transportation, and food. Some can even be crowbar'ed at the same time, like downsizing into a cheaper place nearby your work/grocery that enables car-free living. Big changes have big impacts. And temperamentally, it helps to be able to just kinda go for it it's been said before (somewhere) that people can look back and be amazed at how much their life has changed in the past 5 years, but when they predict 5 years from now it looks quite similar to the present. Why can't the future change just as radically as you've already observed it can? I guess that boils down to taking things one day at a time and being open to change. So I try to keep that in mind.

Anyways, nice to hear from you all

[FunkyFreedom]

The thing I'm learning is that there are lots more opportunities out there than you might initially think.

It's helped me to identify the high-leverage points too, like housing, transportation, and food.

@bainstorm - True! And reading through here is giving me ideas and pointing me towards best practices. A 60% SR by the end of 2025 might be achievable for me, with the biggest opportunity lowering food expenses via not just shopping at the 10-20% lower priced grocery store but also using a mix of low cost per calorie foods that meet nutritional needs. I hope to get that habit change started soon!

[brainstorm]

Work

I am sick and work has been tough lately, so today I’m going to write about work. Basically, I’m feeling frayed and will likely quit before the two years are up that I mentioned before, whether or not I return to full-time work or perhaps find a part-time gig.

I’ve been at my job for a few years. The first couple years were great; lots of learning and building. Then we got some new teammates (who needed / still need LOTS of handholding) and the daily tasks shifted. We moved from a place of building to one of maintenance and compliance. Less time slingin code. At some point, the inflows started to be outweighed by the outflows.

I’ve generally been able to sit down and work hard. This was really useful fresh out of college in consulting, and later in grad school (which I loved). But to quote ertyu: It gets old fast, and as time goes on, it gets old faster. (Also, shoutout ertyu, I always appreciate your perspective here on the forum <3). Well, it's getting old. The big upside is that I have a great manager who will help reshuffle things if (when) I need a break. It might soon be time to call in that favor. I can probably squeeze a bit more out of this job.

Writing all the things I get up to each month, I cannot help but do shit constantly. I have no serious concerns about not being at 33x (original goal amount) since I will undoubtedly get money again in my life. I’m not looking for a life without work or effort (although I am not particularly interested in the shitshow that is software interviewing nowadays). Frankly I would love to work three shifts a week at the climbing gym and get to know all the regulars.

When I do pull the plug, I’ll have time, energy, attention, money, and youth on my side. The one thing I won’t have is healthcare, but having healthcare ≠ living a healthful life. I have one prescription and — just found this out — that shit’s cheaper on GoodRX anyways! There’s always something that *could* come up, like a bike accident. But there are obviously ways to mitigate risk and to meet my needs and desires without excessive risk (same as the rest of life). My favorite part about biking is just being outside, and I can meet that in a variety of ways (but I do kinda like going fast too). And I have some PT knowledge anyways, for minor stuff.

Anyways, thanks for listening to my semi-vent. It helps me to work through things.

[ertyu]

Hi, Brainstorming, thank you for stroking my ego. Heart back <3. Here's a youtube link to a song to soothe the soul called I Quit. Greatly satisfying regardless of whether one knows German or actually plans to quit or not.

In seriousness now, one of the things I wish I'd done when I was burnt out about my job, but which I wasn't capable of doing because I'd gotten too batshit insane, was to be intentional about how I want to use it as I prepare to quit. Burnout has this way of making one focused on immediate survival, put one foot in front of the other, get to the end of the day--a focus on the present, but an unskillful one. Deciding consciously what you'll be aiming for next and figuring out what you need to do in the present to prepare yourself for it while you still can shifts your focus away from this myopic present focus.

You sound nowhere close to how screeching banshee batshit I'd gotten and you sould like you've got a boss that's on your side, both of these things are good. Do you have a work mentor? An older colleague whose brains you can pick about the best way to handle what's going on right now?

[NewBlood]

Frankly I would love to work three shifts a week at the climbing gym and get to know all the regulars.

I keep thinking about doing this too, on and off
If you do decide to do it, I'll be reading with great interest.

Good luck with work and decision making! If your manager is cool, you could maybe try a sabbatical type of thing? A few months of leave without pay with the possibility to go back to your position afterwards, so you can catch a breath and test the waters.

[Scott 2]

The big question with work problems, is if the pattern will repeat in life, beyond that job. If so, do you treat it as a chance for paid skill development, or decide it's a skill you're not currently interested in.


Medical insurance in IL, with low income, is currently very attainable. Either you stay under the Medicaid income cutoff, or you target 1.49 times the individual poverty line. There ACA plans are heavily subsidized, with very low deductibles.

Medicaid determination can use a monthly window. ACA is annual, absent earnings, you can use Roth conversions to hit the income target. Cobra also offers a several month grace period, where you can elect retroactively, after leaving work.

[brainstorm]

Thank you all for the advice, questions, and well wishes. It is much appreciated and I'll mull it over even after responding here.

I feel much better now after walking 8 miles on a beautifully sunny day and touching plastic rocks at the gym this weekend. That almost never fails to make me feel better; I also didn't exercise for the better part of a week due to illness, which is a known factor. It also made me realize that there are still many ways for me to improve how I use my free time w.r.t. feeling good. I don't work evenings or weekends, heavens forbid, and I don't have coding projects on the side either. But I still reach for passive entertainment a lot. With the days getting longer and temps going up I plan to be a lot more consistent with time outside, especially walks, and the journaling I mentioned before. They bring me back to a good spot. I'm also known to indulge in a brownie every now and then, which makes me feel worse, and procrastinating also makes me feel anxious – deep down, I think I know that I don't have much of an excuse to be avoiding work except that I don't feel like it (if I do have an excuse, then I feel fine ). there's no need for work to be involved in how I can address these factors.

Here's a youtube link to a song to soothe the soul called I Quit. Greatly satisfying regardless of whether one knows German or actually plans to quit or not.

Thank you, that was a beautiful song. It is now the ringtone for my boss.

I talked to my friend who had gone through a similar mild case before, and she said how even getting bored again has helped. Well, to be honest, I don't feel bored much anymore. There's lots of interesting stuff to do (am also kinda distracted/impulsive in this regard) and at times it's easy to bounce around unfocused-ly. it also means that when I do something, my attention often drifts elsewhere. when I pick the "right" things to do instead of just the first thing that pops in my mind, I stop running in the red so much and I feel more smooth and buoyant. and CBT actually helps me here, since when I recognize the urge to do X as irrational or unfounded, I go "oh. that's interesting. I don't have to do that, even though I was thinking like I do" and it just kinda falls away. or I'll see that my mind is instantly going to this thing and I can make a prediction, "how do I think I will feel after doing this for one hour? how else might I spend this time? how do I think I will feel with <this other activity>?" (I wrote down a big list of nice offline activities for myself to reference). even just paying more careful attention to which parts of work give energy and which parts take energy - like person X tends to always ask for help but also present it like it's highly urgent (it's not), give no context, send lots of messages, etc. it's useful to know which parts I love so that I can incorporate that into future arrangements. I note each part and how they might relate to how i'm feeling in that moment and then I just keep breathing (I also catch myself holding my breath and I'm sure that's not helping).

I'm certainly not at screeching banshee batshit level of burnout, and I seem to have most of my cognitive function. Still, I think being intentional about what I want out of job is fitting. At the very least I'll have a smooth exit, but I think I can get a lot more out of it too. So I'll squeeze this baby dry. In the past, I've mostly asked what I can get out of job X in the context of careerism – getting raises or promotions or future-friendly tech skills. To some extent, it wasn't particularly motivating since I didn't really care about raises or promotions or tech stacks as much as some other people seemed to. I lived below my means, didn't want to be a manager, and felt like the person who knew a lot about all those frameworks people talk about on linkedin was either a big loser or had 20 years of experience (or both). But if I think about it in terms of practicing broader interpersonal skills like delegating, asking for help, having difficult conversations, etc, it feels more rewarding. those are useful things to practice. it sounds a bit silly reading it back to myself, like I should have thought about that before now, but here we are and maybe I just needed some reframing.

I keep thinking about doing this too, on and off
If you do decide to do it, I'll be reading with great interest.

Good luck with work and decision making! If your manager is cool, you could maybe try a sabbatical type of thing? A few months of leave without pay with the possibility to go back to your position afterwards, so you can catch a breath and test the waters.

Haha let's do it? It's certainly come up a few times in my freedom-to daydreaming.

And thank you. Yeah, I think a sabbatical could be arranged and a good way to test the waters before pulling the trigger. Thinking about it, I have quite a few levers at my disposal so I need not make any rash, drastic decisions. there's enough all-or-nothing thinking in the world without me contributing to it.

• Change up out-of-work activities
• Change perspective on in-work activities
• Change my actual in-work activities (ask boss to reshuffle)
• Change work - transfer to another team (not really any other teams doing anything interesting, but it could give me some new challenges for at least a handful of months while I save up a couple years' expenses. also, my team is only a little social so other teams might have more fun.)
• Change work - interview and find another job (gross, but the novelty can help extend the life of my cushy salary)
• Take PTO (short)
• Take PTO (long)
• Take sabbatical (unpaid, perhaps with benefits? not sure how it works)
• Go part-time

The trouble is, I don't hear too much about people in my company doing some of these things. it's not really advertised (except for transferring) - might be good to start gathering some intel. part-time has crossed my mind before but I have also met zero people doing it, so not sure if corp is open to it.

The big question with work problems, is if the pattern will repeat in life, beyond that job. If so, do you treat it as a chance for paid skill development, or decide it's a skill you're not currently interested in.

This is the big question indeed. Thank you Scott, it is a good question to ask myself. I'm certainly not the first person to get tired of their programming job, but the difference between burnout and escapism is important to clarify [to myself]. I have the energy to make changes, which is useful and important in itself, but less interest in the projects and broader goals to which I contribute at work (can get more specific but probably not publicly) or the amount of time that it requires. Like I mentioned above, I have a lot of control over other lifestyle factors that are independent of work status - it only makes sense to start with those ones. skills I am interested in: communicating better, being able to ask for help, practicing mindfulness, having healthy coping mechanisms, etc. skills I am not interested in: knowing the ins and outs of all the major cloud vendors, anything generative AI, coding bubble sort from scratch.

Thank you for the health insurance tips here. I spent some time this month reading up on it, but evidently missed that the Medicaid window is monthly and that is very good to know. at my spending either one could potentially work, so I think even setting up a little spreadsheet for tracking my income will be helpful, whenever I come to need it. what a country we live in. but given that it is what it is, me learning the system improves my ability to use it to create the life that I want

[brainstorm]

Anyways, in the past week I had my performance review and my boss thinks I'm performing quite well, so I'm flattered and glad to have secure employment.

I also responded to one of my neighbor's seizures (he's okay). I'm feeling pretty dang lucky that I don't get them (not yet at least), and it blows my mind how common they really are. Anyways, someone had posted the response instructions on the bulletin board so I knew what to do. Add me to the long list of ERE-ers interested in a WFR course. I got CPR / first aid / AED certified a long time ago, back in college, but it's since lapsed and I've forgotten a decent chunk of it.

[brainstorm]

January

Money

This was my first month having only my new, lower rent. Nice to think that my entire living expenses are well below what I was paying in just rent last year. Enjoy my first round of numbers. I spent around $1,500. I also made an extra $350 selling old stuff on eBay. I saved around $7,500. Overall, it was a pretty spendy month compared to my usual habits (eating out, fam in town, delayed moving expenses). February could be much lower, but I also think I underwithheld for taxes, so we'll see.

Code: Select all

Recurring
 - Housing          700
 - Groceries        200
 - Gym               95
 - Internet          35 (normally 55)
 - Transportation    35
 - Charity           30
 - Hulu              20
 - Medicine          12 (quarterly)

Entertainment/Variable
 - Eating out        90
 - Family in town    60
 - Temple            20

One-off
 - Moving           115
 - Home improvement  50
 - Garden            20

Life

I’m enjoying the community living setup. It’s good practice for flexibility and communication, and my neighbors are good people. Sure, there are sometimes disagreements, but nothing serious so far.

I also enjoyed another march with @Dave and @jacob. Again, crazy sore the next day, but slowly coming around. It's tough to keep up with their long legs! I've started putting in more 8-10 mile days and have really been enjoying the time outdoors. I'm nursing some ankle impingement but it's not very limiting - keeping an eye on it and doing rehab.

My brother visited town and stayed with me. We cooked a curry at home and visited some nearby cafes, a burger joint, and jazz lounge. Great time.

I gave someone else a haircut for the first time, and will probably start giving them for others more regularly. Just buzz cuts for now. I've been cutting my own hair for a couple years - my trusty Wahl clippers have saved me several grand

Work

I got some venting out of my system in the last post. It’s okay; there are good and bad parts, though I won’t stay after reaching FI goal because I think the opportunity cost is too high. My next milestone is March, when my pension vests, and April, when I finish my 401k contributions for the year.

[sky]

How did that work selling stuff on ebay? Did you do local pickup?

[NewBlood]

Take sabbatical (unpaid, perhaps with benefits? not sure how it works)
[...]
The trouble is, I don't hear too much about people in my company doing some of these things. it's not really advertised (except for transferring) - might be good to start gathering some intel. part-time has crossed my mind before but I have also met zero people doing it, so not sure if corp is open to it.

I took a 5 month leave without pay back in 2019 to test the waters of going back to home country. I was great.
At least where I worked, nobody did that or talked about it because people just couldn't afford it. It doesn't exist as an option in people's minds, because who could afford to not be paid for 5 months? So I had to have quite a few conversations with my manager to get him used to the idea and plan projects around it.
I lost benefits for that period but was eligible for COBRA, which is more expensive, but as Scott2 said, you can sign up retroactively if something happens.

[jacob]

How did that work selling stuff on ebay? Did you do local pickup?

It's best to have some system in place. My process is to have the packaging(*) already assigned and prepared when I list something. This way I can enter weight+dimensions and eBay will automatically print out a packaging slip complete with postage (paid with paypal along with the seller fees) when/if I sell. The package can simply be handed in at the post office w/o standing in line.

I always list at fixed (buy it now) prices. Never auction! If something doesn't sell within a week, I lower the price by 5%. Rinse and repeat until it sells. This is not an instant process by any stretch. It can take weeks to unload a bunch of stuff. Figure that it works a bit like a Pareto curve in the 80% of the stuff is sold during the first 20% of the total time. The last 20% will take a long time to move. Some things may have an effective value of $0, but you never know until you try. Conversely, you may think something is worthless and yet someone on the internet needs just that thing and is willing to pay $30 for it.

I've only been part of a local pickup once. Such a hassle organizing that---humans are a fairly unreliable bunch! Much better to do arms-length transactions. I ship even if the buyer is in Chicago.

(*) I save almost all incoming packaging and just reuse it whenever I sell something again. The idea of buying new envelopes or bubblewrap is crazy!

[sky]

What is the lowest cost item you would sell using ebay?

[brainstorm]

I took a 5 month leave without pay back in 2019 to test the waters of going back to home country. I was great.
At least where I worked, nobody did that or talked about it because people just couldn't afford it. It doesn't exist as an option in people's minds, because who could afford to not be paid for 5 months? So I had to have quite a few conversations with my manager to get him used to the idea and plan projects around it.
I lost benefits for that period but was eligible for COBRA, which is more expensive, but as Scott2 said, you can sign up retroactively if something happens.

Hmm that's a really good point. It's probably a non-option for many people at my company too, so they don't talk about it. I'm gonna check out my employee handbook tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your experience! I'd be interested to hear more about it - not sure if it's in your journal which admittedly I'm still working through