Every time a discussion of taking an indefinite work sabbatical comes up in different social settings I am reminded that society values the doing and the having more than merely just the being . Some look absolutely flabbergasted ‘but what are you going to do with all your time’, or cynical disbelief ‘sure, sure, see you back in three months’. I often have to conjure up a list of wildly ambitious projects lined up for me during this hiatus in order to assuage the inquirer that I will still be a valuable human being, even if without a job. Because the message is often that if one is not doing something then one becomes reduced to nothing.

Not long after the second world war, philosopher Hannah Arendt mused that when all that an individual is is a human being, is when their right to have human rights is lost. And in many ways this intellectual critique of the legal landscape back in the late 1940s continues to permeate in all sorts of our social landscape today – that in order to be afforded some dignity and respect, it is not enough to just exist as a person, one must have an occupation. I used to recoil at these somewhat shallow sentiments – adamant that I would never define myself only through what I do but who I am.

But of late it’s clear that these two notions are too closely entwined, and it takes a certain clarity of disposition to pursue any goals of disengaging from employment. I observe with some dismay how loved ones who have chosen this path of leaving working life are often scrambling to justify their existence – I do a lot of charity, or I am a really busy mother (this is often said with guilt and not pride) – or try to identify themselves with a previous career I used to be a lawyer/ accountant/ doctor.

Will the temptation to meet society’s expectations compel me to eventually return to the cultish fold of my niche world of international humanitarian professionals? It is safe, respectable, and dignified. There was a time when it fully responded to my truest self – intellectually, spiritually, socially. But there are so many features to this life choice that is no longer sustainable and authentic to my current constitution. Perhaps the journey now is to rediscover dignity, respectability and safety in just being human.