I was ready to share with you my sorrows about leaving my ‘unlasting home’ called Kuwait (check out Mai Al Nakib’s book!) and about the new way of life across the borders in the new land of dreams and opportunity called Dubai. Yet, one small conversation with my friend Kindah inspired me to tell you about my career break in this new life and why everyone (well every woman) should have one!

After 24 years of working like…well…let’s be honest, a donkey (but a fancy donkey #justSaying); I was burnt out. Something everyone saw but me. I was starting a new chapter and so I decided (you know…lived my Julia Roberts ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ moment in my head), that I deserved a break and with butterflies in my stomach [the kind I used to have as a kid when I had a crush on a boy], I took one!

I was going to travel the world, but I was so burnt out, instead, I slept like a teenager (although woke up earlier than planned…), I lived in lounge clothes, I gave Netflix, OSN, and Disney+ a run for their money, and finally started reading again. But that’s not why you should take a break – you should take it because of everything else that came with it. The freedom, the realizations, the wake-up calls, most importantly: the ego slap.

I started saying yes to everything and anything – this break was to discover my core, should I continue in the world of branding, marketing, and communications? Or should I go back to my core of helping others? It ended up being something else!

I disrupted my husband’s meditation sessions, I perfected singing in the shower, I mastered the swift but lethal art of killing flies with my hands, I attended the most random of conferences (ANYTHING that was free and completely unrelated to my life), I was cooking again, exercising (thanks Manomoves!), helping friends in editing, some in coursework, I was reviewing subtitles for award winning documentaries, shadowing my PR friends, testing products, talking to strangers, gate crashing my husband’s alumni groups, attending the most random retail events, gardening, journaling, labelling and storing anything that can be organized and labelled at home – you name it, I did it…except belly dancing…watch this space! 6 months of doing so much yet so little, the most liberating feeling, I LOVED it! More than anything – I made my house a home, I took care of my husband, I saw my siblings and fed them, I went all out for Christmas – Bublé would’ve been proud!

You need to understand that going into this, I was so tired all the time, I was suffering ‘imposter syndrome’, I was ashamed and felt like a failure. I called it a ‘sabbatical’. It seemed fancier than saying “I’m on a break” (queue in Ross and Rachel) – my ego was very bruised. Yes, it was my choice, but I felt like I failed in life to have reached a point to make this choice. But the reality and the outcomes were so much more positive. And that’s where my ego got a slap.

I was enjoying it and it felt like a guilty pleasure. Why is it so bad to enjoy this? Why is it so shameful to want to do nothing but take care of myself, my family and home? And who said it was doing nothing? My days are packed! Kindah kindly and clearly summarized it as “…the feminist movement destroyed social and family construct”. And here I am with you asking when did it not become OK to be a woman and to not want to work? When did we become ‘victims’ if we weren’t working? How did they turn women into literally a ‘marketing segment’ of victims brainwashing us that our only solution is to join the workforce? Why are my friends like Kindah who are moms, made to feel like they are downgrading their lives when deciding to stay at home? I’m all for independence (trust me I worked hard for it), but who convinced us that these amazing women at home are bored and doing nothing? Trust me, they deserve more salaries than we do in our corporate jobs – they’re the ones keeping everything and everyone going and running…in more ways than one! They are setting pillars and foundations of family and friendships that money can’t buy, and that governments can’t fund…no matter how rich.

I can go into studies of gender equality and tax policies to find and debate root causes with you, but the only point I want to make is that everyone needs a break, and we should take it in pride! Whether you are married, single, height of your career, mid-career, take those breaks and think, discover, experience. Some might argue they can’t afford it (financially or even time wise), but there’s so much free out there, where there’s a will there’s a way. It’s the best gift you can give yourself and those around you (I still I wouldn’t mind THAT bag though!). Your experience and findings will be different, but they will lead you somewhere, and they will slap sense into that ego we all have that is measuring us against societal, financial, and monetary gain.

Whilst I’m not telling everyone to quit their jobs and do nothing. I am also definitely not telling women to just all become housewives or stay at home moms, but what I am saying is whatever you choose, it’s OK (for the men – it’s OK to be stay at home dads and let her be the bread winner). Do what makes you happy, most of us don’t know what that is because we’re in this race and never have time to think and find out. Stop, think, try, do…choose YOU…and don’t be ashamed of what that is.
If you’re wondering, I’m still in marketing and considering extending the break. Those bills though…

Rasha Ezzeddine, CMO at gigCMO – a spiritual global (Belgian) citizen, Sierra Leonean roots, Lebanese blood, Indian in a past life, London at heart, Kuwait at soul, redefining in Dubai. Follow her @Rasha208 on Instagram.