Mini Retirement in Midlife: How Taking a Career Pause Led to a Powerful New Beginning with Patricia Sasser | #257

👉 Start Your Second Act Strategy Call with Shannon here.

What happens when life forces you to slow down?

In this powerful episode of the Second Act Success Podcast, Shannon Russell sits down with Patricia Sasser, independent school leader and incoming Head of School, to talk about taking a mid-career sabbatical, also known as a “mini retirement,” after experiencing profound personal loss. 

After years of serving students, families, and school communities while navigating grief and burnout, Patricia made the courageous decision to pause her career and prioritize healing, self-care, and reflection. What followed was a transformative journey of grief, personal growth, career clarity, and ultimately, a bold new leadership opportunity.

In this episode, Patricia shares:

•  Why she decided to step away from her demanding career in education 
•  How grief and burnout impacted her physically and emotionally 
•  What a purposeful career pause really looks like 
•  How mini retirements and mid-career sabbaticals can create space for healing and reinvention 
•  The importance of boundaries, joy, therapy, and self-care during life transitions 
•  Why women need permission to pause without guilt 
•  How taking time off led her to a brand-new leadership role and exciting second act 

If you’ve been feeling burned out, overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or questioning your next chapter, this conversation will remind you that sometimes stepping away is exactly what allows you to move forward.

Patricia’s story is proof that pressing pause does not mean giving up. Sometimes it’s the beginning of your next great chapter.

🔗 Get the full show notes here!

--------

Book a free Strategy Call with Shannon

Download Free Resources

➡️ Let's Connect: Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

More resources & discounts:

Home Chef Meal Delivery - (free shipping & $4.99/serving)

Flodesk Email Marketing - (25% off 1st year)

Stitch Fix Personal Stylist - ($25 off 1st order)

Buzzsprout Podcast Hosting - ($20 off)

Podmatch Guesting

(*Some affiliate links)

Transcript

Transcription:

Second Act Success Podcast

Season 1 – Mini Retirement in Midlife: How Taking a Career Pause Led to a Powerful New Beginning with Patricia Sasser

Episode - #257

Host: Shannon Russell

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

​[00:00:00] 

Shannon Russell: Hey there, welcome to the Second Act Success podcast. Recently, we did an episode on mini-retirements, taking a break mid-career or to business transition, and it really got a lot of responses. One person who reached out to me is Patricia Sasser.

Patricia is an independent school leader, she decided to take a mini-retirement or mid-career sabbatical just last year. She's still in the midst of it, and she is joining me today for a really in-depth conversation to look at why she chose to take a break, how it has affected her, and what her plans are next. Let's get to it.

Shannon Russell: Patricia Stasser, welcome to Second Act Success. 

Patricia Sasser: Thank you, Shannon. It's really great to be here. 

Shannon Russell: It's so nice to meet you. We connected recently on LinkedIn, , and what was nice is that I, , not too long [00:01:00] ago did a episode, on mini retirements and the new trend that is taking over for a lot of us in mid-life.

 You reached out saying, "Hey, I'm actually in the midst of that now," and I said why don't you come on the show and we'll really dive into your experience?" So thank you for being open to chat with me about this. 

Patricia Sasser: Absolutely. I'm happy to share. Obviously, I'm still in the midst of it, so I'm still processing it and everything.

Yeah. But your episode spoke to me and, , I'd never heard it called a mini retirement before, which you talk about in the episode- Yeah ... sabbaticals, et cetera. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. 

Patricia Sasser: But yeah, here I am. 

Shannon Russell: Let's start first with, what do you do for a living and then we'll talk about, what it was like when you decided, "Okay, I think I need to take a little pause here."

Patricia Sasser: When I'm not pausing I am a school leader. I work in the independent school space. And so most recently I was the assistant head of school for academics of a boarding and day school locally. And my pause is really personally driven. . I say that because [00:02:00] it is also tied to grief.

And I've had some major losses in the last seven years, my older brother, my aunt, who was like a mother, and then in December 2024, my mother passed after a short illness. And so that was the tipping point for me- ... because I had kept going and I kept grinding and I need to show up for everyone after the other two losses.

I started feeling it. I could feel it. I could feel it in my heart obviously, but also just in my body and my tired. And I just knew I couldn't keep going if I wanted to be the kind of school administrator I wanted to be, and serve the students and families and faculty and staff in the way, and I needed to take care of myself.

And I needed to be able to heal and just step away. And so that's what I did. And also my dad, my parents have been married for over 50 years, and so I wanted to be able to be there for him during his new normal- ... , through his grief. And we live states away. I'm in North Carolina, and he was in [00:03:00] DC.

And so to be able to go up there without feeling like, ugh, I'm dropping the ball so I started my sabbatical basically July last year, last summer. And then this past December, 2025, my father passed. 

Shannon Russell: Oh. 

Patricia Sasser: And so about a year apart. And for me I was glad that I had made the decision to pause so that I could spend time with him.

There were things I got to share with him and I was able to help him and give my brother some relief, 'cause he's boots on the ground up there. And so whenever I came into town, my brother could take a break, and I was all hands on.

"I'll cook. We'll hang out and watch television, or you'll fall asleep and we'll watch television," whatever it is. But it was just I could be of service to him. And then of course when he passed, I'm still navigating this grief journey and everything. And I'm also, I'm a parent, so you know, there's all these people I'm showing up for and I was like, "How am I gonna do this if I'm not caring for myself?"

So it was a [00:04:00] purposeful pause, as I call it. 

Shannon Russell: First I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry about all of the loss, for you to be able to realize that you had lost yourself during that, is what it sounds like. Because as a head of a school,

you're in charge of not only the kids, but the staff and the parents and all of it, and you probably just find yourself putting yourself last through it all. 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. And as I say, like I, I mentioned I'm a parent of a 17-year-old, so a junior. Oh, gosh. And I work in boarding schools predominantly, at least most of them have been.

And so I'm like many of my I give more time to other people's children- Then and he doesn't feel robbed. My son doesn't feel robbed Yeah He probably feels like I'm very present in his life, and sometimes probably too present. But, over this journey of his life, there are times when I'm counseling families, kids, helping them with all these kind of things, listening, all this stuff, going to games, like all the things.

And so they really get a lot of my time. And that's part of the job, [00:05:00] right? I'm in education. I work in schools. I work with teenagers for a reason ... because I love it. And I wasn't gonna be, I wasn't gonna be showing up in the way that I wanted to show up.

And it was the best thing for me to do was to step back and take time for myself- ... so I could come back better. 

Shannon Russell: And to recognize that in yourself, and to say- ... "Okay,. let me take a pause here, literally." 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: In thinking about doing that, what was that conversation like with your boss at the school?

Did you have someone to go to and say, "Is this all right?" . 'Cause basically you took an academic year off. 

Patricia Sasser: I did. And y- they were very receptive. They had seen... parents are obviously important figures in our life, and we, everyone has different relationships with their parents.

A very strong relationship with my parents. My mother was a role model in my life just all the things. And my boss knew that my mother had gotten sick, and knew about my brother's passing. Probably, I don't remember if he knew about my aunt's, but he knew about my older brother's passing, and knew how important my mom was in just shaping who I was.

[00:06:00] And, just the role I play in my dad's life too, and his impact on me. And so when these things were happening at first, he did say "Take as much time as you need." And this was the pre me making a decision. 

Shannon Russell: Okay. 

Patricia Sasser: Just the, this has happened, don't worry about the five day or the three days that you get whatever.

Yeah. Just take what you need. And then more time passed and I returned. I returned- ... probably sooner than I needed to, and I was trying to keep going like I had always done and that society tells us to do. 'Cause you worry about what's gonna happen after.

And I just went in and we had a conversation about the need, the, my need, you know- Yeah ... to prioritize myself, and to do it early enough that they could, do an actual search to have someone come in. Because I said "I'm stepping away, and I don't know if I'm gonna come back. I don't know any of that."

"And so I don't wanna hold anyone up." 

I wanted to be able to give them time to be able to look for a replacement. 

Shannon Russell: That was great. So really mutual [00:07:00] respect there- ... and saying, "I'm being honest with you," and them, saying, "We understand that you need this for yourself."

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: How much time would you say you gave? I'm just curious you know- ... for people listening who might be considering- Yeah. ... 

Patricia Sasser: this. I gave probably about four months, because we're on a, like a July 1 to June 30th fiscal year. 

Shannon Russell: Okay. 

Patricia Sasser: So this was a conversation we had in February.

In our industry, that's actually around the time, like February, March are big hiring seasons. 

People are interviewing, people are visiting campuses. It tends to hit around that time. Yeah. That part, that worked out. Now, I gave them time, but this was not a plan.

Right. 

Shannon Russell: This 

Patricia Sasser: purposeful pause was not some grand plan. So a lot of times when people sometimes think about, "Oh, I'm gonna take a sabbatical, I'm gonna step away," like they've planned. They've planned all the contingencies. Yeah. And financial contingencies. Like all the things you're supposed to be doing.

This was not that kind of organized plan. This was a, " Yeah, I just gotta..." Like- [00:08:00] Yeah ... "I just gotta stop. I'll make it to the end of the year," and so I- that's different, right? Yeah. So I would suggest to people if you can, try to plan. Yeah. But sometimes, life is lifing. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. And sometimes it's not four months.

Sometimes it is like- ... "I just need to step away now," or my- Yeah ... parents that I'm caring for need me now. Yeah. And whatever it is. You did a good job just letting your employer make that plan. But then for you- Yeah ... you finally get to the end of the year and you're like, "Okay, now what?

Now what are my days going to look like?" 

Patricia Sasser: Yes. 

Shannon Russell: So you set them up like you do- 

Patricia Sasser: Yep. I did ... 

Shannon Russell: all the time. 

Patricia Sasser: I did a great job doing that, helped with the transition. Yeah. Did all the files, and everything. Yeah. And then, 

Shannon Russell: Your 

Patricia Sasser: replacement 

Shannon Russell: was great. All set. Oh, 

Patricia Sasser: yeah. Yeah. I didn't have a plan for my days.

And I am someone who, yes, like I'm full on, like I'm that engaged person, right? I know the kids' names, students, all the things, right? Yeah. I'm involved in my community heavily. I do service. I like to go to events. I go to art exhibits. All the [00:09:00] things. Yeah. And I was like, "Huh, what do I do?"

So the first thing I did was when I stopped, I actually went to the beach for a long weekend. Nice. I was like, "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do, because I have no idea what any of this is gonna look like, and so I'm just gonna go to the beach." Yeah. "Because I love the beach." And so that was like one thing I decided to do.

And then I made like really minor rules for myself. There's not gonna be any guilt. If you have a day where you do absolutely nothing you're not gonna feel bad about that. And then another one was that I'm only doing the things that I wanna do.

So people can't take up my time. I'm not gonna feel like, "Oh, I should do that, but I really don't want to." And I've held true to that. I don't do things that I don't wanna do. Okay, I don't wanna drive my son to football workouts- ... at 5:30 in the morning. That's the one asterisks, but he doesn't have a license.

Yeah. Someone needs to get him there. So I take it as just time to get up early but that's like the only thing. 

Shannon Russell: That's exactly one way 

Patricia Sasser: to do it. So that's the one [00:10:00] thing. Other than that, I don't do things I don't wanna do. And I don't feel guilty if I have a day or more where I do nothing and it's not productive, or I just watch television all day, 'cause I love television.

I'm fine with it. 

Shannon Russell: 'Cause you're healing yourself and I think it's something important that I'm just thinking now, is when you do take a sabbatical, you take this pause, you take this mini-retirement, it's not about planning for the next the whole entire time, and, and- healing yourself and figuring, "What am I gonna do when I get back?" It literally can be- ... a pause- 

Patricia Sasser: And that's what I wanted for myself. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. Yeah. 

And like you said too you were going to take care of family, you still have your responsibilities, but- you could really pour your heart into that probably, where, when you're working a really intense job, you can only pour your heart in until Monday morning, and then- ... you're back at it.

Patricia Sasser: And at boarding schools- 

Shannon Russell: Yeah ... 

Patricia Sasser: it's not even that. Life goes on through the weekends and everything.

And I love the boarding school community. I know it. I went to it. I was a part of it. I love the community, [00:11:00] because you're connected. You know each other. But you're on. You're on a lot. And so I had to be intentional even in those spaces when I was working to say, "I'm stepping off campus," or, "I'm going to a movie."

And I wanted to demonstrate that for students. What does it look like to be in this leadership position and to still make time for oneself as a working person who gives to their community or goes to the Beyoncé concert in St. Louis for 36 hours? Had everything. That my world doesn't revolve around them as much as I care for them.

And so they know "Oh, Miss Aster shows up for us," you know- Yeah ... and has a life. 

Shannon Russell: Yes. And that is such a great example, because the more you can take care of yourself and do those fun things, you come back from Beyoncé and you're ready to go. You are just in it. Oh, 

Patricia Sasser: yes. 

Shannon Russell: It energizes you.

Patricia Sasser: Absolutely. 

Shannon Russell: That's a great example for your son as well, especially at 17. He's picking up on everything that you're doing now more than ever. Yes. 

Patricia Sasser: Yes. Yeah. And I and I've seen our [00:12:00] relationship evolve in this past, year that I've been on this sabbatical.

Sometimes I'm sure he's "Oh my gosh, you're probably too much here." But there's also this he asked me about my day he knows I'm doing boxing and I'm sore- Yeah ... because I always ask him about his day, and so he'll take me through. But he's also making me watch this anime.

The next episode dropped today, and I know he's gonna come home today and be like, "All right. We gotta watch Peak." So we've connected in a different way because of this time. I went to all his wrestling matches. I wasn't able to do that- When I was working last year.

I could go to some, but not all. Football games I was, couldn't go to those. So it's been nice to be able to do that. Even volunteer at his school. I work at a school. Why am I gonna go volunteer somewhere else? . But once again, I come back to my rule. I don't do things I don't wanna do.

I've chaperoned many dances working at a school. 

I'm not chaperoning dances at my son's school. I will not do that to him or myself. I will volunteer in the spaces I want. Teacher treats, love to deliver those. [00:13:00] Help with the business alliance, helping them with workplace skills with students or do the college and career fair that's coming up.

Yeah. That's how I show up there. But I'm like- That's great ... that's my limit. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. And I wanna make sure that we mention too, like you're still in school. You're taking online classes through UNC. Tell us about that- Yes ... because that takes up a portion of your time now too. You're not, watching anime all the time.

You're in class. 

Patricia Sasser: yes, I am in a doctoral program. I am about to start, like literally on Monday from when we're recording this, I'm about to start my sixth term. So it's the last term of my second year of a three-year program.

And it's in organizational learning and leadership at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. And so it's been good. It's been hard. Even on my sabbatical where I'm like, "Ooh, I'm behind on the reading and I gotta catch up." But I'm enjoying the learning. And so I'm weirdly geeking out.

Like we have human resource management coming up and data-driven decisions. [00:14:00] And I'm already looking at some of the reading and I'm like, "Okay, this is gonna apply," and, how do I like connect with these concepts and, and that's what learning should be. It shouldn't be checking a box and just going through the motions.

I wanna be engaged in my learning even on the hard days when it's a little harder to be, and that doesn't change even when you're my age and in a doctorate- ... than when you're 17. Yeah. There's still those days where you're like, "This is not the thing I wanna be doing, so how do I stay like focused and 

Shannon Russell: engaged?"

Yeah, but I would just imagine you have more energy to focus now than if you were working a full-time job too and having to do this, which I know you did prior. You've been doing this for a couple of years now. You're probably excited.

Yes. It's a little bit of structure and maybe an less than structured- Yes ... week now. 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah, there are a few things that are a part of my days Yeah ... everything else is pretty fluid. I get up, I take my son wherever it is, I come back, I have tea and a bagel.

So tea is a part of my life. Now I've added [00:15:00] boxing in. That's not an every day, but I do that a couple of times a week, and I'm gonna try and keep consistent. Yeah. And then there'll be school. Everything else is relatively fluid.

And then the rest, comes and goes however I decide. 

Shannon Russell: How are you feeling yourself now? We're recording this in April. Yeah. You started in last July. So you're coming up on a year in a few months. How are you feeling, about your grief journey, and how are you feeling about yourself and your health, and just overall- Yeah

mentally, emotionally, physically? 

Patricia Sasser: There's so much that we don't talk about when it comes to grief, right? There's no "And you're just over it," because you're not, right? I still have moments where there are things I want to share with my parents, and they're not here for me to share it.

I can't pick up the phone. And I was a call every Sunday basically the majority of my life kid. And I think it's more you don't get over it, you just continue to move through it. Something else that I've been trying to, really connect with is that joy and grief [00:16:00] can exist in the same space at the same time.

I do have support. I have a therapist because you don't get through things without being able to have that, and I think it's a healthy practice. I put it on my calendar because I also want my son to know what it looks like to get support when you need it. 

That grief and joy, and that if I am joyful and having joyful moments, that does not mean less about missing my parents and things.

And I'll do things to connect with them or I'll chuckle about something because it reminds me of them. My mom was American, my dad's Nigerian. And so whenever I hear a Nigerian accent it makes me smile- Yeah ... because it, it feels like home. My mom was from Baltimore, also North Carolina, but mainly Baltimore.

Maryland blue crabs, that's a real thing. Yeah. And so I'm like, so I'm like, whenever I have crabs, which is not enough you know- ... I think of her. And it's a process and it's a journey. I think I'm always gonna have moments. I talk to people who've been on [00:17:00] this grief journey for over a decade, right?

Or longer. And, once again, grief and joy, it coexists, and they still deeply miss their parents or their parent or whoever it is that they lost. And they do things in honor and memory of them and everything. And, it's it never really goes away. 

But I'm not lying in bed with the sheets over my head.

I can get up- Yeah ... every day,. And I think that's important to be able to do that. 

Shannon Russell: And have the space to be able to think and- ... and realize maybe what you did need where before this you were just in the routine and on the hamster wheel and doing all the things that you didn't have a chance to maybe process that.

Do you feel like this pause helped you in that aspect? 

Patricia Sasser: Yes. Busyness was basically a distraction to allow me to get through the day, right? 

And it wasn't a willful one. It wasn't like, "I need to..." But it's a compartmentalizing one. Yeah. If I sit in my grief, am I able to do work?

But I need to do work, so let me focus [00:18:00] there, because then I'm not weighed down by, this grief that you still, feel and everything. By removing some of that busyness, it's allowed me to, like I said, do these things that are, one, healthy for me, my body, my mind, my spirit.

At some point, even though I said I was gonna do it during sabbatical, that's not gonna happen, but, I wanna- ... do some more writing. I do it on a Substack, It's not just about grief. I just write. But I do wanna do some writing possibly related, like something for my mom and then something for my dad.

Don't really know what that looks like. Maybe it's a mini book for each of them. At some point I will do that. I have my mom's some of her memoir. She had been writing it. She was a foreign service officer at the State Department, and so a lot of her- professional stuff up until a certain point is actually documented officially- With the American Foreign Service Association. So I actually have whatever she had printed out. I haven't read it. I haven't looked at it. She was also a big journaler. [00:19:00] I don't have all her journals yet, 'cause we haven't gone through all their stuff 'cause my brother and I are just taking the time to do it.

Shannon Russell: Yeah. 

Patricia Sasser: And we're like, "There's no rush." Yeah. If it takes us a year, if it takes us two, we will work through it. So at some point I will get those, too. My sister and my brother know if anyone's gonna do anything with the writing or the memoir or whatever, it's gonna be me.

Yeah. It's gonna be Patricia. Good. So at some point I'll get to that, and that will also be therapeutic and, I'm sure there'll be some laughs and, just within myself and just thinking about- Oh, yeah ... times and stuff. 

Shannon Russell: Oh, but see, this time also allowed you to think about that and to think about- these projects you have in the future. 

Patricia Sasser: Yes. 

Shannon Russell: I'm curious about your school. - Are you going back to the same position at the school in July? How does it look like when your time is up for this year's sabbatical? 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. No, I'm not going back, so it's totally different. When I started my sabbatical, I had no idea what was gonna happen in a year. I did have some conversations with people in my industry, like friends, [00:20:00] just to think about if I do come back to schools after my year or school adjacent, like we have a lot of associations. It could be, like, a non-profit.

I wasn't really sure. I'm also heavily into, like I said serving the community, so I was like, "Maybe I'll go into corporate social responsibility." Like- Yeah ... that's an industry. I just And I didn't know. I was just like this might get stressful at some point, if I don't know what's next."

But no, I'm not going back to my former school where I was the associate head for academics. But July 1, I will be starting as a head of school at a boarding and day school up in Pennsylvania, the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, about an hour from Philly. And I'm excited. I've been able to go up and visit a couple of times.

I'm going again a week from now for reunions and the last board meeting. They've really embraced me. I like the vibe there. I like what they're doing. I like how we care for, support kids, and launch them into whatever's next for them. And so I'm excited, to [00:21:00] be able to step into this role to lead a community and to co-create what the future holds for them, 'cause they'll be going into their second hundred years.

Shannon Russell: What a fresh start. , Congratulations, Thank you I didn't know that. I- Yes ... I did not realize that. And congrats, because what a fresh start for you, coming off of- Yes ... this year break to start fresh at a new school, especially during a, significant time for the school, and to be- Yes

the head of the school. 

Patricia Sasser: Yes ... 

Shannon Russell: incredible. 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. I'm very excited. I'm very excited. 

Shannon Russell: Every decision we make really does lead to the next thing. And- 

Patricia Sasser: Yes ... 

Shannon Russell: you took a really big, bold decision a year ago, and look where it led you. You would've had no idea. I'm sure you had conversations where, "I'll be back.

I'm sure I'll be back," and just, but here you are- Yeah ... on to the 

Patricia Sasser: next. Yeah, it gave me the space to think about it. Yeah. To even question, like I said, do I wanna go back into schools? Do I wanna- ... just be able to support schools? Do I wanna change industries, which I've done before.

20 years ago, I was in sports [00:22:00] television production- Yes ... at ESPN. So do I wanna pivot again? But having that space to really think about what matters to me, what kind of work do I wanna do, and even if I wasn't in schools, I knew that serving was important. So that could've been going back into corporate maybe.

I don't even know how you break into that industry, but I was gonna research and find out. And helping create spaces that allow people to serve their communities, right? And it could've been something else. I was tossing around the idea of launching a book festival here in Raleigh, because I was like, I have some time.

There's no book festival. I love books.

I was like, "Maybe I'll do a book festival." And so I was actually going down the road and having conversations to learn how to do that.

it just opened up the space to really think about making sure that whatever was next had meaning for me. And it was, the kind of work that I wanna be doing. And what my journey has told me, even though the other things may still happen, I'm gonna continue to serve. [00:23:00] Maybe I'll do a book festival.

Maybe at my new school. Yeah. But or there's one in the county actually, and so I'm like, maybe we can, have something on campus that's a part of that one. And bring authors to campus or something. But I love working with high schoolers. I don't know of I would've said this 30 years ago.

But- ... I love it. I love to see their journeys. I love supporting them. I love creating spaces for them, and doing it with really dedicated, talented adults- ... who have that same passion and investment that I do. And and I love- supporting aspiring leaders. 

So that's something that I also love to do and would continue whether I was in or out of schools to do, is how do we create spaces to build those next leaders, to mentor, to sponsor- and everything.

Shannon Russell: Talk about second acts. You've had a lot of acts, and you're open- ... to more, and I love that so much. Because I think it's important to allow yourself space, whether it's a sabbatical or whether it's just, "Okay, this is my 30 minutes [00:24:00] once a week where I'm- sitting with my own thoughts," to think about what it is you want to do next. It's so easy to stay in the status quo. Yes. And it would've been very easy for you, Patricia, to go right back to your position in- Yeah ... Raleigh. It would've been so easy for you to go back there. 

But you said, "No, I had the space to think about what else can be," and you found something, and you've got all these other- yeah ... ideas. So it's- Yes ... what a beautiful path that you carved for yourself. 

Patricia Sasser: Thank you. Thank you. 

Shannon Russell: What would your advice be,, and for anyone who's thinking about a sabbatical, mini-retirement, whatever you wanna call it- but just needing a pause for a plethora of reasons,

Patricia Sasser: As I said, mine was very unplanned. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. 

Patricia Sasser: But I would say if you can plan, it does help to have a little more intentionality around the financial piece- ... so that doesn't become a stressor that takes over your time during- Yes

your pause. And that's if you can plan, there's so many [00:25:00] reasons that you might not be able to plan. But if that's a thing, please lean into that. The other thing I would say is don't over-regiment yourself. I think we put all these rules on ourselves, and then we will sit there and be like I didn't accomplish this," and so now you're f- beating yourself up because you didn't accomplish this.

Remember why you needed the pause. The pause might be something like me on this healing journey and everything. The pause might be because you wanna work on some project, right? And you need the time and space to do it or you wanna travel, or you're a caregiver. There's so many reasons.

So remember what that why was and make sure that's your north guiding star. And then make sure that maybe you're doing some other things that are- Fun and bring you joy in that process. I've gotten to do I'm always pretty random. I just do things because that's who I am.

But I got to film a local tourism commercial because they were looking for extras and everything. And so I was like why not? I'll submit a tape and see what [00:26:00] happens." I got to do things like that.

Go to the General Assembly in North Carolina for Legislative Day to talk about, different things. I've also tried to stretch myself and do some things that I hadn't been able to do because I was working so much. And so when those things come up, I'm like, "Yeah, I am gonna go do that. I'm gonna go to the Art of Fashion Show and, do these kind of interesting things that I like to do.

I'm gonna go to Startup Week." Raleigh-Durham's in the midst of Startup Week right now. 

Shannon Russell: Ooh. 

Patricia Sasser: I'm not a founder or funder- ... or entrepreneur, but I was like, "But it's gonna be interesting to hear what they talk about and hear some of those keynotes and see what I can take from that I can apply in my school settings."

And so I volunteered yesterday all day. I love that. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah, it was fun. 

Patricia Sasser: Yeah. 

Shannon Russell: Oh my God, we're so much alike. I wish we lived closer- I know ... because I'm always like "Let's go to this random, event, too," because you never know. And like you said- 

Patricia Sasser: Exactly ... 

Shannon Russell: why not? Who knows? You'll meet one person, you'll have a nice conversation, and it'll be a great day.

Patricia Sasser: Exactly. Exactly. I always encourage [00:27:00] people to do that. I encourage students to do that. 

Shannon Russell: Yeah. You 

Patricia Sasser: know? They're, like, coming to me as the wrong person to be like, "Maybe I don't want to," because i'm gonna be like their champion.

Shannon Russell: Well, Patricia, I'm glad that you reached out to me on LinkedIn, that we were able to, start a conversation and get you on here because you really showed all the different facets that a mini retirement can take, and how it can help you in so many different ways. I feel like it really did heal you on your grief side, it healed you on just who you are and who you want to be- and led you to this new path for this next act of your life. And, Absolutely ... I just thank you for all of your advice and for being here. This was wonderful. 

Patricia Sasser: Thank you so much, Shannon. It was great chatting with you. I really appreciate you having me on. 

Shannon Russell: Yes. I'm wishing you the best in this next chapter.

Patricia Sasser: Thank you.

Speaker: Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Second Act Success podcast. If this episode has you thinking about starting a business or growing the one that you already have, I offer free second act strategy calls. [00:28:00] This is where we map out what makes sense for your business and your life. You can book yours now at secondactsuccess.co/strategy or grab the link in the show notes below.

As always, thank you for being here. Until next time, I'm your host, Shannon Russell, wishing you the best day ahead as you plan your second act. I'll see you on the next episode.