A year ago, I stepped off the corporate hamster wheel. I wasn’t tired of running or weary of what I was doing. In fact, I had an idea and helped create a role that would fill a gap at work and was both excited and energized by the new challenge.
The Backstory
But things didn’t go exactly as proposed. While I obtained approval and stepped into the new role, I didn’t feel like I had full support. First, the role wasn’t raised to the level to drive enterprisewide change. Nothing specific was said; it was more about what wasn’t said.
Also, I was asked to wait several months to introduce AI (specifically, Copilot) to the team. Since I was ready and the team was eager, the delay signaled a lack of urgency and support.
Weighing all the factors and trusting my gut, I decided to take the exit ramp offered by a voluntary early retirement package.
Looking Back
For a long time, my life ran on familiar roads. Building strategies and plans.
Producing deliverables and meeting deadlines. The steady drumbeat of “what’s next?” That cadence can be meaningful, even energizing. Still, something in me knew it was time to press pause. I didn’t want to autopilot into a new chapter. I wanted to design it for maximum impact.
So, I accepted the offer and framed it as a sabbatical.
And what I found delighted me.
The Gift of Time and Space
When given the gift of additional time and space, something magical happens. It slows down the pace so you can look around. It turns down the noise so you can hear yourself think.
I’m familiar with quieting my mind as I meditate during my morning routine. However, my first week on sabbatical, the extended quiet felt unfamiliar. It was almost too quiet.
Then the silence became a teacher. I started noticing how often urgency masquerades as importance. For example, having worked in corporate communications for decades, I’ve learned to navigate the waters where a leader expresses whatever they’re working on is top priority and requires your immediate attention.
My first week, I no longer received email invitations to meetings that had no clear purpose or could’ve been handled with an email. That was a refreshing change. I also saw how easy it was to measure success by activity and output alone. Sabbatical gently confronted and released that habit.
Over time, the year became less about activity and about doing what mattered, with intention and presence. That shift changed everything.
Work that Matters, Done with Joy
I didn’t stop creating. I just stopped creating on demand. In fact, I created more. The difference? I was no longer spending most of my day ghost writing for executives or the company at large. The content I created had more meaning to me, and what I created was in my own voice.
With more unscheduled time, I wrote and published in a way that felt truer to who I am. I built on the ideas I’ve been carrying for years. I kept returning to one theme: how we do what we do—how we lead—is as important as what we achieve.
In time, that evolved. It’s not just what we say that’s important. It’s whether we align our action to those words that demonstrate integrity.
From Values to Virtue-driven Action
With that in mind, I thought about the many leaders I’ve worked with, paying particular attention to the ones I admired. The ones who I respected, not because they had the title, but because they had earned my confidence and trust. My experience with those leaders stood in stark contrast to instances with other leaders where there was a disconnect between their words and actions.
Thoughts simmered, and I looked for patterns. A concept emerged: Values hang on the wall. Virtue-driven action walks down the hall.
That’s the heartbeat behind Lead with Light™. It’s also the golden thread running through much of what I’ve shared on alviller.com.
Signals the Message is Landing
Along the way, something humbling happened. IABC awarded alviller.com a Golden Flame Award. I’m grateful for that recognition, not because it’s a trophy, but because it affirmed my direction. Better still, both views and visitors grew by more than 200% respectively. Activity isn’t the main point. However, it’s a leading indicator and evidence that my message is cutting through the clutter and landing as intended.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn became another place to practice clarity and consistency. My following grew by 39%. The actual number of followers are extremely modest compared to Top Voices, but that matters less to me than what the percentage represents: a widening circle of founders, leaders, and communicators who want to live what they believe, not just say what they value.
A Stronger Body, a Steadier Mind
At some point early on, I stopped treating exercise like a “nice to have.” I made it a priority.
As a result, I developed the habit of hitting the gym regularly, and I protected it like a commitment I wouldn’t cancel. Not because I’m planning a vacation and want to look good on the beach. Because I’m building real-world strength and vitality. I want energy for the work ahead, and stamina for the life I want to live into my 80s and beyond.
Interestingly, the gym also reinforced one of my favorite lessons. Consistency beats intensity. That’s true with leadership and communication as well. Small reps combined with incremental improvement compound over time.
Family Milestones that put Everything in Perspective
If you want to understand time well spent, look at who you were showed up for.
This year, my wife and I had the privilege of accompanying our twin daughters during the process of purchasing a condo, their first home. Watching them step into that milestone felt like witnessing a new kind of independence and strength. Adulting is hard. They weren’t pretending; they were practicing. In the process, they experienced the search, consultation, decisions, paperwork, nerves, apprehension, excitement. All of it.
I’m so proud of not only what they accomplished (which is no small feat in today’s housing market and economic climate), but who they’re becoming. More confident and independent. I’m also grateful I wasn’t “too busy” to be present for it.
Moments like that can sometimes take a backseat to pressing matters at work. They often arrive when work life is hectic. However, showing up for family matters. The sabbatical made it easier to answer with a full-throated “Yes!” Being in full control of our calendars enabled us to jump in with both feet… and hands to support our girls with everything from decisions and logistics to painting, repairs and furniture shopping.
As parents, we offered ideas and suggestions. As partners, we highlighted things they needed to consider. Ultimately, they made the myriad of decisions that serve as the foundation for their next chapter.
The Hard Parts were Real Too
It hasn’t all been sunshine and unicorns.
My wife and I accompanied her mother during her final days until her passing. It was both a responsibility and a gift. That experience strips away the trivial. It also reminds you how precious life is.
The end of life has a way of changing your relationship with time. It slows you down. It sharpens what you notice. In those days, I remembered something I’ve come to believe deeply. Patience and presence are forms of love and devotion.
In that spirit, I’m grateful for the perspective the Baha’i Faith provides. While a loved one passing is never easy, I’m comforted by my faith believing they’re in a better place and free from the frailties of a body that’s failing them.
O Son of the Supreme!
I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?
This year also included a few minor procedures to remove skin cancer. “Minor” is a clinical word. Emotionally, the word “cancer” still gets your full attention. It becomes another reminder that vigilance is required, prevention matters, and gratitude for your health is never abstract.
In a strange way, the hard parts and the beautiful parts belonged together. They both taught the same lesson:
Memento Mori, Memento Vivere.
Memento Mori is a phrase that most people might be familiar with. Essentially, it means: “Remember that you must die.” Memento Vivere means: “Remember that you must live.”
I carry these two Latin phrases on a pendant around my neck ever since I battled cancer during the global pandemic in 2020.
Why 2025 Matters Going into 2026
This sabbatical was incredibly generous. It provided a foundation and a springboard. It gave me fuel and a spark. That spark has a name in 2026: REFIRE, my word for the year
I’m not retiring. I’m refiring.
More specifically, this next chapter isn’t about speed for its own sake. It’s about aligned momentum. I want my effort to match my purpose. I want my words to match what I believe and my actions to be proof of what I believe. I want my days to reflect a man on a mission, a quest to be precise.
Looking back, that’s what this year offered me. A chance to practice living on purpose, not just talking about it.
So, as I tie a bow on my year on sabbatical, I’m not measuring it by how many boxes I checked, although that’s my usual MO. I actually checked a lot, but I’m measuring it by something simpler.
Did I… Show up? Grow? Serve others? Love well? Build something that will last?
I believe I did. Not perfectly by any stretch of the imagination, but with conviction and sincerity.
And now, with focus, energy, and considerable enthusiasm, I’m ready to turn the key again.
Ladies and gentlemen. Start your engines!
Parting Thoughts
I learned something early on in my life. Don’t ever run away from something. Always run toward something.
In other words, don’t just quit the job because you’re unhappy, not valued, or unfulfilled. Instead, seek the job that aligns with your purpose, a role where you can exercise your skills and abilities and that brings you joy. Find a company that believes what you believe with a culture that will value your contributions. Align yourself with a leader who believes in you and is willing to invest in your growth and development.
Here’s the TL;DR
- A sabbatical isn’t an escape hatch. It’s a clarity hatch.
- Space helps you determine what matters.
- Consistency compounds, whether you’re building strength, trust, or a body of work.
- The sweetest milestones come when you’re present for them.
- Hard seasons deepen you. They also refine and deepen your gratitude.
Ultimately, REFIRE is my reminder to live with purpose, lead with virtue-driven action, and move with intention.
If this resonates, I’d love for you to share it with someone who’s contemplating a pivot or a reset. Also, subscribe to alviller.com so we can continue to move forward together.
Be clear. Be kind. Lead with Light! ✨
Feeling generous? Share this post…
Discover more from alviller.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.