How to Take a Restorative and Practical Career Break

Confession: Last year, I quit my tech job and intentionally took an entire year off before looking for a new one. And while it was truly the best decision for my personal growth, professional development, and mental health, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t moments filled with uncertainty.

Was I too “old” to take the risk? How would I continue to help pay my parents’ bills? Would I be able to explain that resume gap and find a job again? I knew I had to approach this career break thoughtfully, even though the decision went against the values instilled by my working-class immigrant parents: to keep my head down and work diligently, to live practically and frugally. Truth is, Asian American women are discouraged from taking breaks, even when we desperately need it.

Despite what we’ve been taught, career breaks can be an incredibly beneficial time to check back in with ourselves, to heal and practice mindfulness and intentionality, and discover other dreams and goals, rather than traditional career-oriented ones. (After all, how else does anyone travel to Asia and truly enjoy it while employed full-time in the U.S.?)

We interviewed experts to get their professional insight on career breaks and gathered tips and tricks to make the most of your time off — because you deserve it!

What Exactly Is a Career Break/Employment Gap?

Growing up, the only socially acceptable “gaps” I heard about were (white) students taking a year off between high school and college for travel or internships, or academics taking paid sabbatical leaves for formal research projects or writing projects. It seemed unthinkable for me to stray from the path straight from high school to a college to a respectable career to raising a family and going straight back to working hard until the day I died. 

It wasn’t until I burnt out at my second job after college that I started hearing about working adults following less traditional career tracks. Career breaks are deliberate, long-term periods between employment, whether it’s for a few months or for a few years. In fact, a 2022 LinkedIn survey found that 62% of 23,000 global workers have taken a “professional pause,” with varying reasons. 

Career development coach Karen Hui-Saechao says, “I have worked with women who stepped away from their careers for seasons of caregiving, whether to raise children or to support aging parents and loved ones. In more recent years, however, I’ve noticed a shift, especially among Millennial and Gen Z women, who are choosing to pause their careers because of workplace burnout or health challenges directly tied to work.”

Of course, this is not an easy decision to make, especially when your identity and purpose are tied to your career. Additionally, not everyone has the privilege to intentionally forgo steady paychecks; it takes financial planning and/or some kind of safety net provided by a loved one, which isn’t something many of us have.

Leading up to my resignation, I knew I’d have to burn through much of my savings, and that I’d be temporarily moving into my parents’ tiny Queens apartment with (much to their chagrin) my two cats. Hui-Saechao says, “For Asian American women, the weight can feel even heavier. Many of us carry deep responsibility for our families, parents, and sometimes even our broader communities. Coming from cultures where success is often measured by prestigious titles, high-ranking positions, or the sacrifices made to ‘earn’ our place, taking a career break doesn’t feel like a luxury — it becomes a lifeline. For some, it is the only way to survive.”

Tracey Gee, certified leadership coach and author of “The Magic of Knowing What You Want,” adds that for many of her Asian American clients, “it is often one of the first times that they have reconsidered what meaningful success looks like to them. When this happens, they may need to revisit narratives inherited from parents and other cultural voices about the ‘right’ way to pursue career and life.”

What Are the Pros of Taking a Career Break?

I knew it was time to leave my job and take a real break when taking vacations were no longer helping my mental health or my carpal tunnel and chronic lower back pain from sitting at my desk for long periods. That first beautiful month of freedom alone was spent seeing a therapist, taking Pilates classes to fix my posture and strengthen my core, and catching up on much-needed sleep. “Taking an extended break from employment can be truly lifesaving, especially if someone is dealing with leaving a toxic environment, burnout, or other intense needs,” says Gee.

In addition to providing mental health benefits, career breaks are also a great opportunity to take a step back and recalibrate: Is this line of work truly giving you joy and motivation, or is it time to try something new and pivot to a different path? Having the time to pursue a creative project, take classes, get certification, or even travel can actually enrich your overall career path. Gee says, “It feels like part of a significant movement to find fresh ways of envisioning our careers that take a holistic view of life into account, and to create paths of our own, not just feeling bound to follow a rigid set of rules.”

What Are the Cons of Taking a Career Break?

While I like to shout from mountaintops about the benefits of career breaks, it’s crucial to consider the very real challenges as well. My parents constantly called me “baeksu” in Korean, which translates roughly to “unemployed bum,” and my mother’s efforts to set me up with a rich Korean doctor or lawyer doubled. “If you’re not going to work, at least marry someone who’s going to take care of you,” she begged.

Their concerns weren’t completely unfounded. Although I still worked on-and-off as a freelance writer and editor, not having a steady income was scary. I constantly prayed to the universe that no financial or health emergencies would pop up — but they very much did. (I’m convinced cats plan random, inexplicable health issues around our paychecks.)

Near the end of my “gap year,” I was reinvigorated and eager to go back to work, but I also knew re-entering the workforce is challenging the longer the break. While some recruiters see employment gaps as red flags and deem you a flight risk, you may also lose momentum or relevance in fast-paced industries like tech.

Gee says, “It’s really powerful to learn that the practical concerns are real, e.g., bills to pay and the need for health insurance, but they can co-exist with our deeper desires and dreams as well if we have intentionality.”

How to Realistically Take a Career Break (and What to Do)

Before taking that plunge and quitting your job, it’s important to think about what exactly you want to do during this time. Gee advises, “If part of the space is to figure out what’s next, ask yourself if you’re ready to jump into that or if you need some space to put that on pause to focus on rest and restoration. You can incorporate both, but many people underestimate the effort required to chart a new path, and sometimes you need some good time to just be. It can be a lot of mental and emotional labor. If you’re feeling the need to disconnect and rest, trust that.”

I knew that I wanted to balance fun and professional development activities like freelancing and online courses. I had been wanting to spend an extended period of time in Korea for years, so I actually purchased flights six months before I quit — that’s how long I had been planning my exit — and set aside three months to reconnect with my family and cultural heritage. I signed up for a Buddhist temple stay, traditional painting, and weekly gayageum lessons while I was in Seoul. And because I’m always seeking out new skills, I signed up for cybersecurity certification and SQL and Python courses upon my return.

This brings me to my next point: plan a budget. I estimated travel expenses and costs of classes on top of general life expenses, I left a buffer in case finding a new job took longer than expected, and I still ended up using up more of my savings than I expected. But it all still ended up being the best investment of my life because my health, self-worth, and marketable skills skyrocketed during this time, and I knew the right employers would acknowledge the value in that.

How to Re-enter the Workforce and Explain Your Career Break

Now comes the tricky part. Although the social perception toward resume gaps is slowly shifting, some employers are still old school, so it’s key to market your career break as positively as possible. I was asked about my career break in nearly every single interview, but instead of focusing on why I left my previous company, I highlighted how I used that time for my personal and professional development and how this made me more of a relevant and capable candidate to hit the ground running.

Hui-Saechao offers the following step-by-step guide for when you’re ready to re-enter the workforce:

1. Craft your personal narrative.
   Take time to write out your story about why you took a break. This reflection brings clarity and helps shape how you see yourself. If you hold a positive outlook on your journey, you’ll carry that confidence into interviews. But if you’re still holding onto pain such as, “my last employer treated me poorly,” that energy will also show up in your job search. Remember, interviews are about storytelling. The way you view and tell your story matters. To practice, try mock interviews with friends, partners, trusted colleagues, or a career coach, and ask for feedback.
   
   What story do you want to tell about this season of your life and how does it show your resilience, growth, or values?
   
2. Build meaningful connections.
   Networking doesn’t always mean job hunting, it can simply mean learning. Set up exploratory calls or informal interviews to connect with people in roles or companies you’re curious about. You can even do this during your career break, without the pressure to commit. Go in with the intention to learn, share a bit of your journey, and see if it feels like the right fit. Share only what you feel comfortable with. Remember, your story is yours to tell.
   
   Think about three people you’d like to reach out to in the next month, simply to learn from their journey.
   
3. Practice reframing.
   Reframing helps you share your experiences from a more positive perspective. You get to paint the story you want to tell. Outside of the nerves, an interview is simply a conversation between two people. Remember, if a company cannot honor and respect your journey, then it’s not the right place for you. Instead, seek an organization that values your potential, your skills, and the unique strengths you bring.
   
   How can you reframe your career break from being a “gap” in your resume to being an important chapter in your growth story?

Everything Is Going to Be OK

Wherever you are in your career journey, it’s important to remember that we don’t always have to follow a cookie-cutter playbook to achieve fulfillment. Taking a career break can be scary, but it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It’s an opportunity to heal, explore, and come back reinvigorated without regrets. I’ve been at my new job for the last few months, and although it did take a little bit to retrain my brain to start working full-time again (and fix my nocturnal sleep schedule!), I ultimately have a more resilient and focused mind. And it was all because during that career break, I learned to lean into uncertainty.

Gee says, “I tell clients to prioritize experimentation over certainty. A lot of times, people get discouraged because they feel like they can’t take a step until they are crystal clear on what the exact right thing is. But the kind of clarity that they’re looking for comes from being willing to try, learn, and adjust.”

Tracey Gee is an AAPI leadership coach and author passionate about helping others lead with authenticity and self-trust. Her debut book, “The Magic of Knowing What You Want,” invites readers to honor their desires and redefine success on their own terms. Karen Hui-Saechao is a proud first-generation Mien American and founder of Made For More Coaching.

Cover image by Lison Zhao on Unsplash.