Sabbatical = Prep Time + 2(Boredom) + Regret.

I thought a sabbatical was the best thing for me right now. It'll give me enough time to study ( more than i used to), think about what i REALLY wanted to do in life( sounds full hipsterish...i know. Let it pass.) do the regular experimenting with cooking, catch up with some old friends and plan my future. Thats the ideal sabbatical, or Nigella Lawson's Summer Kitchen- neither of them are close to the real world version of my sabbatical. The first week was awesome. I loved the extra hours of sleep, the binge eating and simple things like reading the newspaper without catching the online version.

And then week 2 and 3 hit me. The boredom was excruciating at times. I would literally have nothing to do other than blankly browse through some stupid " Scrubs dance" videos on YouTube. Whoever said that there is no time to waste....clearly was never on a study sabbatical ! Ha ha. And then stage 3 hit me. REGRET. Reading status updates on Facebook and Twitter about people who were doing great things in their time and here I was wasting my life away in a closed room whilst secretly planning a full blown surgical strike mission against all those very people in my head.  Everyone will say that its nice to take this time off,  one should know how to survive without being a workaholic. But the truth is, only you know how every minute of your sabbatical is sometimes painstakingly slow moving. So today, I decided to stop being a baby( if you are reading this and feeling sorry for yourself..then you are a giant cry baby) and make use of the time to do things that I normally would never ever do if i had a job. Jobs will come and go, but those Salsa moves...take some time to perfect!

So do not fret. Its ok. Breathe and make a list. And then aim to do one new thing every day. It can be as small as wearing a new perfume! But do SOMETHING new. And be happy with the fact that while you are finding ways to make buttercream cupcakes, there are some who are locked in a cubicle...and they don't even like the job! The grass does seem greener on the other side because we love being workaholic and think that the job is our only identity. So take charge of the situation, before the boredom starts to affect your prep. And remember, its not possible to study the entire day irrespective of a sabbatical or not. Stick to your schedule and the grass will start getting greener soon.

Here's my list.
1) Bake the ultimate Banana Cinnamon cupcake
2) Run for 5 kilometres a day
3) Learn how to cuban salsa
4) Take up Kickboxing
5) Experiment with low fat food
6) Take up a sport
7) Get into shape- must get into actual skinny jeans. Not the fat version of skinny jeans
8) Be a rally driver
9) Find a cute guy!
10) Re read the Foundation Series.

Just to start with. Time's not a wasting!