When Winston Chen told his friends that hehad quit his job as chief technology officer at a software company to move to asmall island in Arctic Norway with his family for a year, few people called himcrazy.

当温斯顿.陈告诉他的朋友他要辞去软件公司首席技术官的工作，和家人搬去挪威北极圈的一个小岛住一年时，几乎没有人说他疯了。

Instead, most people simply replied: “I wish I hadthe guts¹ to do that.”

相反，大多数人的反应只是：“我也希望有勇气这样做。”

You have to create the urgency for livingthe life you want.

你需要制造紧迫感，才能按照自己希望的方式去生活。

While many people dream of taking time offmid-career, few actually do it. But the number of people taking lengthysabbaticals later in life is increasing, according to experts. That’s in partdue to companies becoming more open to the idea and the higher rate at whichpeople are changing jobs. And depending on how you play your cards, you canreturn with a better job than when you left.

尽管很多人都梦想着在职业生涯中休一次长假，但是几乎很少有人真的这么去做。但是根据专家的观察，现在越来越多的人开始选择在职业生涯的后期选择休长假。这一部分是因为企业对这个观念越来越开明，和习惯了人们跳槽的高频率。如果你处理得当，回来时你能得到一份比原来更好的工作。

Time for a change

改变的时刻

For Chen, who had been with the samecompany for a decade when he quit in 2011, it was time for a change, he said.His original plan was to find a new job, but the idea of taking time off —inspired by a TED² talk — got him seriously thinking about a sabbatical. At first, he said he was concerned that timeaway from the industry might hurt his career.

温斯顿在一家公司呆了十年后，于2011年辞职，他说，是到了作出改变的时候了。他原来的计划是找一份新的工作，但是在一次TED演讲的启发下，他开始认真思考休长假的计划。起初，他说他担心离开行业一段时间会不利于他的职业生涯。

“That's the main reason that keeps people from doing this, and I wasno different,”he said in an email. “But you have to create the urgency for living the life you want.”

“很多人不敢这样做，主要原因就在这里。而我也是一样，”他在电子邮件中写道，“你需要制造紧迫感，才能按照自己希望的方式去生活。”

After quitting, Chen did look for anotherjob — until a family friend mentioned that a small island in Arctic Norway waslooking for a teacher. Chen’s wife, who was born in Norway, wanted to go backto work after being at home with their kids for five years. “She calledand basically got the job,”said Chen. “So, very quickly, we decided³ that was it.”

在辞职后，温斯顿也找过工作——后来他家的一位朋友告诉他挪威北极圈的一个小岛上正在招聘教师。温斯顿的妻子生于挪威，她在家照看孩子五年了，刚想要重新工作。“她打了几通电话，工作差不多就定了。”温斯顿说，“然后，我们很快就把这件事定了下来。”

Increasingly popular

日益流行

Paul Payne, managing director of UK-basedrail and construction recruitment firm OneWay, is one of a growing number ofprofessionals in the recruiting field who have seen a number of clients optingfor a gap year or sabbatical midway through their careers.

英国铁路和建设人力招聘公司OneWay的总经理保罗·佩恩（Paul Payne）等招聘领域的专业人士发现越来越多的客户选择间隔年或在职业生涯中休长假。

More and more [companies] are offeringsabbaticals as a retention⁴ tool.

越来越多的企业将长假视作一种留住人才的工具。

“It’s an interesting idea, particularly when firms are looking tohire and, crucially, retain millennial⁵ talent who tend to get itchy feetquicker than their predecessors,” he said in an email. “While it’s not forevery business, more and more are offering sabbaticals as a retention tool bygiving their employees paid leave to travel, volunteer or simply to take timeoff to recharge their batteries.”

“这是一个有趣的想法，尤其是当企业想招聘以及更关键的，留住比前辈们更喜欢跳槽的千禧一代时。”他在电子邮件中写道，“虽然不是每家公司都这样做，但越来越多的公司将长假视作一种留住人才的工具。他们给员工开带薪假，让他们去旅行，做志愿者工作，或只是休假充电。”