Ep. 262 Embracing Sabbaticals: A Pathway to Freedom for Black Women

[00:00:00] Welcome to Hustle in Faith this podcast is dedicated to helping women who want to analyze,

[00:00:18] apply and amplify their God-given gifts. We accomplish this by discussing topics such as business,

[00:00:24] self-improvement, health and beauty and my random thoughts about life from a Christian perspective.

[00:00:30] I'm your host Latasha Johnson.

[00:00:34] Are you tired of feeling less than enough just because you're single? Then you'll love

[00:00:39] my new book How to Live an Extraordinary Life with or without Mr. Right, a Christian woman's guide

[00:00:45] on how to survive and thrive on single avenue. It's time to acknowledge address and dismantle

[00:00:53] the harmful limited mindset many single Christian women have internalized. Take the first step to

[00:00:59] discover and embrace the plans God has in store for you. If you want to be notified when the book is

[00:01:04] released, please check out the Hustle in Faith website. I cannot wait to share this with all my

[00:01:10] single ladies. You have everything you need to live an extraordinary life with or without Mr. Right.

[00:01:17] And this week's episode I add the pleasure of speaking with Stephanie Perry. At age 41, Stephanie

[00:01:28] quit her job as a hospital pharmacy technician to travel the world for a year on her savings.

[00:01:32] She visited 12 countries in 12 months all on just $1,200 per month. Now she's a year-round house

[00:01:40] sitter and pet sitter who helps black women embrace more ease by taking a career break, house sitting

[00:01:47] or moving abroad on her YouTube channel. Her community has raised over $40,000 to send black

[00:01:53] women unsubbatical and retreat since 2022. Be sure to check out Stephanie's book Job Detox,

[00:01:59] a framework for black women to stop striving and get free. Welcome to the show, Stephanie.

[00:02:06] Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I love to talk.

[00:02:11] Oh, my God. It's nice. No, I came across your YouTube video and I knew I had to have you on the show,

[00:02:18] but I want you to tell your stories. So why don't you tell the audience about yourself?

[00:02:23] Hi friends. My name is Stephanie Perry. I quit my job when I was 41 years old to travel for a year

[00:02:29] on savings. That introduced me to a new life. It introduced me to living in a way that put work

[00:02:38] in its place where work, my job wasn't the center of my life. And now I get to talk about that all

[00:02:44] the time and I'm sharing. I'm on a mission to get other black women to live not the way that I want

[00:02:49] them to but the way that they want them to, right? To reject the stuff that we're told we have to do

[00:02:55] in order to live our individual lives, our actual lives. And so I talk about this all over the

[00:03:03] internet and I'm really glad to be here. Oh my goodness. Honestly, that's how I found out

[00:03:10] about you was because a video popped up on my feed. Thank you YouTube. That's totally inspired

[00:03:17] me to reach out to you and it resonated with me so well. So can you tell the audience a little

[00:03:23] bit about what inspired your sabbatical? Yeah. When I was 41, or when I was in my 30s, I was living

[00:03:32] for, I was living just to make it to my 60s where I thought that was when I would have permission

[00:03:38] to live my life. I thought that I just need to hang on until 65 or 67 and then I can retire and

[00:03:46] live the life that I want to live. Then I can travel, then I can have time free time to get hobbies

[00:03:54] then I could live. And I really thought that that was how things were going to have to be for

[00:03:59] another 30 something years. I used to come home from work, I worked night shift at a hospital,

[00:04:03] I was a hospital pharmacy technician and I used to come home after the shift, pull out my little

[00:04:07] calculator and calculate how many more of these days I was going to have to survive until I got

[00:04:12] to actually live my life. Until I thought 65 or 67 was when I was going to actually start living.

[00:04:20] And then I took a vacation with my parents to Southern California right after my mom retired,

[00:04:27] who also worked in hospital. She was a hospital chaplain and I saw what it was like to try to see the

[00:04:32] world, you know do some traveling in a 67 year old 65 year old body and I thought maybe this is a

[00:04:39] scam, maybe until we're maybe waiting putting off living until you're 67 or 71, maybe that's a scam.

[00:04:48] Maybe I should be living today and living the life that I want. And for me, that was travel

[00:04:54] so I started figuring out how I could travel without a boatload cash, right? Without a trust fund,

[00:05:06] how could I see the world and do the things that I enjoyed doing and now today in my body as it

[00:05:13] was today that with my knees that still bent mostly right? I know I feel like I'm beginning to get

[00:05:22] to that age where I'm like why is that creaking like that? I feel like a good man every year or

[00:05:30] something new. I don't want to scare you but every year is something new, every year you're like

[00:05:34] like, what is this noise? What is that? I hope you're talking about it. Oh my goodness.

[00:05:44] But yeah, I would try to live a different way, right? Just try to figure out a different way to live

[00:05:50] in the United States in particular we're not told that we have choices, that we have options,

[00:05:55] that there are different ways to live our lives. We really do think that we need to dedicate,

[00:05:58] especially as Black women, we need to dedicate our lives to working, to striving,

[00:06:03] not just working but to working harder and harder and harder with no payoff. Yes, there's no

[00:06:10] problem with payoff. There's no like well if you work a little bit harder now then you get to

[00:06:15] relax. No, there's no ease in the plan. The plan that laid out for us has no ease. It's just

[00:06:22] struggle and striving until we drop dead and people praise us in our home, home going service

[00:06:31] and that's it. That's the end. So people will praise you in your home going service for being such a

[00:06:36] selfless person and never acknowledge that they're the ones who killed you. So instead let's take

[00:06:44] a step back and decide on how we want to live because one day it will be our last day.

[00:06:50] And so I think I just wanted to make sure that the life that I was living and the individual days

[00:06:55] that I was living were things that I chose and not things that were handed to me because I'm

[00:07:00] a Black woman. Wow, I, oh my goodness, there's so much that you just said that just resonated with

[00:07:07] me right there because it's crazy. The corporate world, it's amazing how they just keep moving the

[00:07:13] goalpost further and further and it's like okay at a certain point, it's not even worth it. You're

[00:07:19] absolutely right on that. You're absolutely right. I, I, I, I, I, I think we all are.

[00:07:27] That's right. Yeah, this things are not set up for us to have a good outcome. The setup is

[00:07:33] not designed for us to have a good outcome the way that things go today. So we might as well choose

[00:07:39] our own. Choose our own ease. And that is so true. So true. Actually, the first line of your YouTube

[00:07:47] page got me. I'm Stephanie and I send Black women on breaks. I read that and said yet please,

[00:07:54] yes, please okay why is it so important for you to send Black women on sabbaticals and career

[00:08:02] breaks because right now we don't know that it's allowed right we're still at a place there will

[00:08:08] be a time when Black women taking a career break is a commonplace thing. I see it right this coming

[00:08:14] but right now we're still at a place where Black women are like oh you're allowed to just quit.

[00:08:20] Oh, I'm allowed to not work as an adult. I'm an able bodied adult person shouldn't I work? Should

[00:08:27] it my life be dedicated to work? Should in every week of my life be committed to my job? Right?

[00:08:34] Right now we don't know we don't know that it doesn't have to be that way so that's why I keep talking

[00:08:38] this talk. I want us to take those career breaks, those sabbaticals, those many retirements

[00:08:43] so that we can spend time doing what we really want for ourselves figuring out what we really want

[00:08:48] for ourselves and then doing it. Everyone's sabbatical looks different, everyone's career break looks

[00:08:53] different and everyone comes out of it a little differently but for the most part what I see when a Black

[00:08:59] woman takes a whole lot of time in her adult life where she doesn't have a job right is that she gets to

[00:09:08] peel away some of the stuff that was put on her that wasn't her right the cape she gets to take

[00:09:13] off the key and find out who she really wants to be what she really wants to focus on for now or

[00:09:22] forever right forever or for a little bit of time and she also develops a better understanding of

[00:09:31] like how her work has or the work the job has been bleeding into other parts of her life.

[00:09:38] How it's been affecting her relationships or friendships, how it's been affecting her health

[00:09:45] Black women come away from a sabbatical with a whole new perspective on work and living.

[00:09:51] Wow so I want us all to do it I want us all to do it I hope

[00:09:54] I sincerely hope that there is a time and not too far in the future where it's normal for us

[00:10:00] to take significant time away from work because we've done enough

[00:10:05] like we've done enough. Yeah no I'm shaking my head because everything that you're saying

[00:10:10] it resonates with me and not to stop but it's interesting the terms sabbatical and career

[00:10:16] breaks it's usually designated towards those in the academic field right academics or women

[00:10:23] that may be parents that take a break uh you know to raise children or whatnot but what was so

[00:10:28] radical about coming across your pages hey guys you don't need to have any of that you can do it

[00:10:34] right now and that's what I need to connect with because I've always felt that way I'm being honest

[00:10:41] I haven't taken a significant career break but yeah you're inspiring me to do that um but yeah

[00:10:48] yeah you really are but it's it's just interesting that you use those terms because have you come

[00:10:53] across that yeah so I don't care what people call it if you're if you're hung up with the idea

[00:10:58] that a sabbatical is for people in academia and it's generally paid which is true a lot of people

[00:11:03] in academia get paid time to do something else or to do research or to write if that's your hangup

[00:11:09] call it something else I don't care what you call it you can call it a gap year you can call it a

[00:11:13] career break you can just call it time off um it doesn't matter what you call it what matters is

[00:11:19] that you do it do it because it's worthwhile do it because you don't have to earn it and you don't

[00:11:25] need somebody's permission to take time away from work having to get permission to take time away

[00:11:30] from work is the thing that drove me into this into begin with my origin story includes having a

[00:11:36] job where it was really hard to take the vacation days that I earned um it was just really they

[00:11:42] really made it impossible for me to take an extra decent amount of vacation time you know like by

[00:11:48] decent I mean a week so uh I don't I don't have any qualms about telling people to go ahead and do

[00:11:56] this thing even if you don't like the terms sabbatical just take some time where you don't work where

[00:12:01] work is not the boss of you because we're not supposed to only dedicate all of our good years

[00:12:07] right the prime of our lives to work in how much of that time do we get right if we're supposed

[00:12:13] to be setting aside money for ourselves how about we also set aside some time for ourselves yeah

[00:12:19] if you understand the idea of investing your money for future you how about we also set aside

[00:12:26] some time a year for a future me a year for a year for a present day me yeah how much of that do

[00:12:32] we have to how much do we have to give to work and and take from ourselves I love that so much yeah

[00:12:41] I really do what is stopping women do you believe uh what is stopping black women from ditching

[00:12:47] the superwoman cave what is stopping us from doing that some women really think that's

[00:12:53] how it's supposed to be they think they're supposed to wear that cave they think they're supposed

[00:12:56] to be the superwoman for everyone else and that what they want doesn't matter they're women who

[00:13:02] have who believe that I don't think they in I don't know if they internally believe it but they

[00:13:07] live their lives as though they believe it right that's a thing we need to really just accept that

[00:13:13] we are deserving also I think some people think it's really expensive or that their career will never

[00:13:21] rebound um because me and my homegirls who quit our jobs for a year ended up saying cyanara to

[00:13:29] traditional jobs for good some people are afraid that if they do take a career break and don't work

[00:13:36] for a little bit of time their career will never recover and they spent so much time

[00:13:41] building them but that's not the case what I've found is that employers who the kinds of

[00:13:48] employers that you would want to work for anyway really appreciate the idea of you taking this break

[00:13:55] let's go point focusing on some personal projects or not resting and then coming back fresh

[00:14:01] and refreshed most of the people you're going to work want to work with right most of the companies

[00:14:06] and most of the like hiring managers and employers most of the people that you're going to want to

[00:14:12] work with a lot of black women feel like the cape right the superwoman is the way that we're supposed

[00:14:17] to be this is what life is supposed to be that life is supposed to be us doing for others more than

[00:14:22] we do for ourselves the life is supposed to be um martyrdom right uh whether and you some women

[00:14:32] right now are nodding and like yeah there's some women do think that but friend it might be you too

[00:14:36] it might be you too if how here's how you know if you refuse to do things for yourself before other

[00:14:44] people you're in that same category if you think that a career break or a sabbatical or time off

[00:14:51] or something doing something in a different way if you think all that would be nice but here's

[00:14:56] the list of reasons I can't do it and on those list of reasons is other people then you're in that

[00:15:02] same category to do something radical let's do something radical to address that that's a good point

[00:15:09] such a good point and you know what that said perfect segue into my next question which was

[00:15:14] what are signs of a toxic environment whether it be work or personal um and why do you believe

[00:15:22] that so many of us are conditioned to stay in those type of environments so here's a okay here's

[00:15:28] something that some people are going to be upset about okay I think anything that gets in the way

[00:15:34] of what you want for yourself is a toxin I think right that's the way I'm gonna describe it

[00:15:40] okay what do you want for yourself and if your thing is getting in the way it's a toxin

[00:15:44] there are jobs that are operating as a toxin in our lives just because they're standing in the way

[00:15:49] of what we really want for ourselves might be a perfectly fine job with perfectly fine people

[00:15:55] and perfectly fine pay but it's not what we want true I think anything if it's not if it's if it's

[00:16:05] poisoning the dream I think we should treat it as a toxin um okay yeah right there's I don't

[00:16:13] think there's a there's I don't think there's any such thing as a good job I think there are jobs

[00:16:18] that get you closer to your dream or closer to what you want in your life and there are jobs that

[00:16:24] stand in the way for some dreams any job is gonna stand in the way yeah there might be a better fit

[00:16:32] there may be something that will get you closer to the thing that you really want and I think that

[00:16:36] if what you really want is time off then any job in the way is a toxic job okay I don't everybody's

[00:16:43] not gonna agree with that this is another time when then just change the label just like we said

[00:16:47] was sabbatical if you don't like the way that I'm framing toxic job just say a job that's in my way

[00:16:53] okay I'm calling anything in your way of toxin though because there is there is something for

[00:17:01] everyone there is something there is a dream there is a vision I think for everyone everyone should

[00:17:07] hold a vision for their lives and I think that we owe it to ourselves to move towards that vision

[00:17:14] and not hold the thing that's holding us up in higher esteem than we hold our own vision what was

[00:17:20] the biggest hurdle that you yourself had to overcome before taking the leap and moving out of the

[00:17:25] country um let's see now I'll name a few I don't know which yes please I don't I don't think I

[00:17:34] can name the biggest I think part of it was just there was I had a significant amount of fear about

[00:17:43] what if I go abroad and I just don't like it um I didn't have a lot of fear about the money because

[00:17:50] once you figure out how to make a money away from a job things money becomes a simpler problem to solve

[00:17:58] right so I know today I don't need a job to make money and so that was less of that was not

[00:18:05] a super huge concern to me by the time I was ready to go abroad but there was there was the fear

[00:18:11] that what if I just don't like it the answer to that is if I get someplace and I really don't like it

[00:18:16] I just go someplace else I move really light I don't I don't feel like I need to put a whole lot of

[00:18:24] roots down in a place I'm not buying a house in another country I'm not doing all these things that

[00:18:29] would make me feel stuck in a place that I didn't really enjoy so I just move light and if I get

[00:18:34] some place and I love it I stay longer if I get someplace and I don't like it that much

[00:18:39] I go to the next place that really freed me up that really freed me up from the whole

[00:18:47] fear of getting someplace and it just being a mistake there aren't too many other mistakes or too

[00:18:52] many other hurdles that I felt like could things that could really go wrong right the things

[00:18:58] that could go wrong I won't like it I'll run out of money or I will um go somewhere and get sick

[00:19:04] right or you know those are the main questions that everyone has and they all have solutions

[00:19:09] they all have answers the money thing being a youtuber being a content creator plus a coach

[00:19:17] plus an author means I you know I can make more money if I run out of money I can make money

[00:19:23] so that that solution was pretty easy and then this what if I get sick solution is actually a reason

[00:19:29] to move abroad not a reason to stay in the United States help care in other countries is accessible

[00:19:35] it's much less expensive there's a lot more care involved right you got another country go to

[00:19:41] another country and get a doctor that doctor will what's at you directly and follow up with you

[00:19:50] wow doctors and other countries actually communicate with their patients wow yeah that is

[00:19:57] huge difference than here here you're just a number if you can get on the the roster it makes

[00:20:02] like a couple months right so wow healthcare in other countries which is of concern that a lot

[00:20:09] of people that a hurdle that a lot of people want to figure out is actually a reason to go because

[00:20:15] you're going to have you're paying even if you're paying out of pocket you can get insurance

[00:20:19] in another country right and insurance could be well under $1,500 for the year medical insurance

[00:20:26] private medical insurance in other places I've talked to women in France Portugal Mexico

[00:20:31] Costa Rica Panama Ecuador no one is paying more than $1,500 for a year for good private medical

[00:20:38] insurance so that's an important number one but secondly there is actual care there's an actual

[00:20:42] focus on care the United States healthcare system well once you experience healthcare in another

[00:20:47] country you'll really that is the time when you'll really come back like this place is wrong

[00:20:53] and everything about this place is wrong how are you doing that between healthcare and like public

[00:20:58] transportation in Europe and Asia you'll be like wait what is going on in this country what is going

[00:21:04] on in the United States that things can be so good in that other place and so terrible here I teach

[00:21:11] adults overseas in English to adults overseas and so I do know a lot of what you're talking about

[00:21:18] and a lot of them tease me because they're like Tasha it's not right what goes on over there like how do

[00:21:26] you survive and I've actually had some folks say there's no way I would make it over there like in

[00:21:31] terms of our labor laws but you're right and definitely with the healthcare they're like why is

[00:21:36] that so expensive because you know I tell them about stuff like sicko that one documentary like you're

[00:21:43] literally you're like for your life kind of depends sometimes on what zip code you're lit you're

[00:21:48] literally living it how sad is that right but it's sad but it's intentional right things were set

[00:21:56] up in this country that way so there's no hope I'm gonna say in a really extreme way I'm gonna say

[00:22:02] there's no hope and trying to stick here and struggle and try to hope for things to get better

[00:22:09] is it's a way it's an approach but it's not the only approach there is also the approach of

[00:22:14] listen seriously leave go someplace better there is probably a place that fits your needs better

[00:22:20] than this place just like there's a job that will will help you get to there could be a job that

[00:22:26] would help you get to your dreams faster right there's also a country that would help you live

[00:22:32] your life the way you want to live it better and so we can shop for countries just like we shop

[00:22:38] for jobs or we should some of us don't shop for jobs we should we should be shopping for jobs

[00:22:42] we should also be shopping for countries we should be finding places that fit our needs and how

[00:22:47] in our conducive to us living the life that we want instead of the life that someone else has

[00:22:53] told us we have to settle for I love that you just said a word right there that that is so true

[00:23:00] so true so true and that's actually brings me to my next question and that's why we are having

[00:23:05] this conversation right now so your video 49-year-old and living my best life alone and I love the

[00:23:12] question mark that you put on that I knew I had to click on that video because I'm turning 42 this year

[00:23:19] and I am in July so yes so I honestly feel the same way so why do you feel that so many people

[00:23:29] have this disbelief that it's some sort of oxymoron that this like there's no way that that could

[00:23:34] be possible why do you feel that way we get we get pushed a message there's messaging right there's

[00:23:41] messaging in a lot of areas of our lives and there there is messaging that women are not complete

[00:23:49] without a partner I think that some of that comes from people just needing women to buy into that

[00:23:56] for people in the world who need women to believe that so that they can get over so that they can

[00:24:01] have somebody who can labor for them while they're kicked back and enjoying life right married men

[00:24:08] live longer than single men but married women have shorter lifespans than single women and so

[00:24:14] there are people who just need us to believe it there are people who really need us to think that we

[00:24:19] need to be married to be happy and to be fulfilled also I think that there's like fear about life

[00:24:29] alone but what we forget is that life without without being married life single life is not the same as

[00:24:37] life alone there are plenty of people who fill up your life yeah you don't have to be married to

[00:24:45] feel to have your family like to have a to have the community that we need people do need community

[00:24:55] with the whole idea of rugged individualism right the whole idea of being an individual person

[00:25:00] does everything for yourself was created by people who didn't do things for themselves right they

[00:25:07] hadn't enslaved people building a country for them meanwhile they're promoting this idea of being

[00:25:12] a rugged individual the idea of doing things for yourself on your own no human beings need community

[00:25:19] with people that community doesn't have to come in form of a marriage your friends your family the

[00:25:24] people you choose to become family with right your chosen family your chosen friends your chosen sisters

[00:25:31] are going to fill so many needs for you and are going to keep you from feeling alone and lonely

[00:25:38] if you let it right as long as you don't buy into the idea that you're incomplete if you're not married

[00:25:45] oh my goodness you are touching on so many topics in my book that is coming out later this year

[00:25:51] you are touching on so many topics but I just wanted to hear your opinion which resonates with me so

[00:25:57] well I knew I was going to enjoy this conversation yeah tell us a little bit about your vote tell me

[00:26:04] oh yes so it's called how to live an extraordinary life with or without Mr. Wright a Christian

[00:26:09] woman's guide on how to survive and thrive on single avenue so it's talking about a variety of

[00:26:16] different my experiences and it's bringing in a lot of different people in the Bible that were single

[00:26:23] and just different aspects of how they were able to live their lives and the lessons that we can

[00:26:28] learn from them extraordinary stands out to me because we sometimes we aim to know

[00:26:38] in our lives yes extraordinary is possible and the people who are living extraordinary lives

[00:26:45] are no more deserving than me you anybody else they're not living extraordinary lives because

[00:26:51] they deserve it more than us yeah you'll tell us later but I'm guessing some of it has to do with

[00:26:57] them being willing to step out on faith a little bit but it's not about being more or less deserving

[00:27:04] and so if you feel like you've been aiming too low well we can't we can't wait for your book to come in

[00:27:09] oh thank you yes maybe out later this year but I am so excited about it too because I just

[00:27:16] it's it's a narrative that a lot of people in my opinion have this misconception

[00:27:22] and we need more people like you and me out there hey guys and I'm not downing marriage in any way

[00:27:28] shape or form my parents had a very long marriage before my father passed away and it's just

[00:27:34] you know we all have different lives and I'm not going to put my life on hold until I find Mr.

[00:27:40] right it's like you know I don't buy into that whole concept of living in anticipation I don't buy

[00:27:50] into that you need to live now enjoy your life now you know so that's one of the main reasons why

[00:27:56] I wanted to write this book so yeah I just I thought your YouTube video I was like oh I'm so glad

[00:28:04] you did yeah that magic number living it doesn't nobody wins there's no nobody just like me trying

[00:28:10] to wait until I'm 65 or 67 to start living that's no less damaging to a person than saying I'm

[00:28:17] going to wait until I'm married to start living or enjoy my life or see in the world or whatever your

[00:28:22] thing is yeah when you pull off the good in life today you're wasting valuable precious time so true

[00:28:30] so true so true and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to connect with you because

[00:28:34] I started binge watching all your other videos and so I want to dig a little bit more into the house

[00:28:40] sitting like how did you get into that you know what's your favorite house sitting gig and why

[00:28:46] yeah so house sitting is a wonderful way to see the world or just see your city I've house that since

[00:28:54] 2017 I recommend to anybody who's a friend of animals most houses are pets sits there are

[00:29:00] houses that are not pets sits but for the most part houses are pets and you get to stand somebody's

[00:29:06] lovely home there's women there's women pool which is a requirement for me right I'm like you have

[00:29:11] a pool I'm coming yeah I use house sitting to travel wherever wherever I want to be right so

[00:29:19] last summer I spent the summer in Palm Springs Palm Springs in the summertime was not the smartest

[00:29:25] choice I want to say it was really hot and muggy I would think no I was in dry I was in Palm

[00:29:32] Springs California in the desert it was really dry okay but my phone one day was just like I give

[00:29:36] up it's too high I'm not I'm not going to function the rest of the time thank you okay so it's really

[00:29:44] I've done some house sits in some beautiful places I've house sat in the Netherlands at spring time when

[00:29:48] the flowers were blooming which was when I learned that flowers actually grow on a farm in a field

[00:29:55] I thought all flowers grew in greenhouses for some reason but you can just like in Delaware when

[00:29:59] you drive past all the cornfield in the Netherlands in springtime you just drive past two of the fields

[00:30:05] and highs and fields just as far as your eyes can see it's been a wonderful way to see parts of

[00:30:10] the world that I never even thought I was interested in and to check off some things that were on my

[00:30:15] list of to-dos right check off some places that I really did want to go to it's been fantastic

[00:30:22] way to travel and I found out about it seriously just by googling how do you travel with no money

[00:30:27] because I used up all my money and I was like you know aren't you serious how Google how do you

[00:30:33] travel with no money in a blog post from Nora Dunn came up and she had done a couple of houses I

[00:30:39] don't even think she was house sitting all the time but she had done a couple of houses and that was it

[00:30:45] that's crazy okay that is oh my goodness I can't wait to finish the rest of your channel like I

[00:30:51] just I missed a couple of videos and I'm like okay wait I gotta save some some for the interview

[00:30:56] here you know but I'm just like this is a lot is a lot okay a lot it is a lot but it's a lot of

[00:31:02] amazing goodness that more people need to know that there are other options out here you know it's

[00:31:08] just whoo it's a lot and I thank you for being one of those people to share that with us so that's

[00:31:13] amazing amazing you're welcome I love sharing something that I know I started my channel because

[00:31:19] I thought I knew like eight black women who would want to quit their jobs and I would you know

[00:31:23] put some information on my channel so I could send it to them and it turns out there's a whole lot

[00:31:28] more I don't know right because your channel is very popular I mean you've got well what like

[00:31:34] 160 000 is probably on YouTube or something I just and you to belong I guarantee you other people

[00:31:41] that are out there that's right yeah so if you're thinking that oh I'm thinking this way if you

[00:31:49] if you're thinking like I'm thinking this way I want to embrace ease I want to take a break from

[00:31:52] work I want to move abroad but it makes me kind of a weirdo know that it doesn't make you a weirdo

[00:31:57] because I have 150 000 other people who were interested in the exact same thing right it doesn't

[00:32:02] make you weirdo it makes you a person who's interested in designing a life for yourself so

[00:32:08] I know a lot of what you've shared resonates in this conversation that we're having with

[00:32:13] so many women so if you had to choose one word to represent your goals what would it be and why

[00:32:19] I would say expansive I want to open myself up to more opportunities and possibilities I want

[00:32:28] to open my community up even more like the community of women who have subscribed to my channel who

[00:32:35] have come to my virtual summit who have a joint or our virtual summit who have joined our

[00:32:40] Facebook community and all that is a wonderful community and I want to be more expansive I want to have

[00:32:49] listen seriously I just want it to be commonplace for black women to take a career break and I think

[00:32:54] that expanding things in my youtube channel and my business and my life can help make that happen

[00:33:01] so yeah expansive it's a word I like I'm glad that's it that's I haven't gotten not one before either

[00:33:08] so fun fact um I ask all of my guests this question and I have yet to have a repeat and I've been

[00:33:14] doing this show for almost seven years for seven years we're in season seven so I'm like

[00:33:20] alright let's keep going let's keep going yes oh yeah good yeah there's no that's proof evidence

[00:33:26] that there are there's a lot of ways to do a thing there are a lot of ways to do it you find what

[00:33:31] works for you somebody else's plan somebody else's word is not gonna work for you find your plan

[00:33:37] find your thing and move towards that oh my goodness I love it so much well Stephanie what is the

[00:33:44] best piece of advice last but not least this is our last question here but what is the best piece

[00:33:49] of advice that you have for women who want to take a sabbatical or career break if you guys don't

[00:33:55] like the word sabbatical my one okay I'm a narrow down to one one piece of advice get in community

[00:34:04] with other women who were working on this plan or who are already doing it right when you're going to

[00:34:09] do something that is kind of against the grain or vary against the grain you need community because

[00:34:14] there are plenty of people who are gonna tell you why it's wrong and why you're the work making

[00:34:18] the worst decision ever in your life just like with anything right yeah a lot of people in your life

[00:34:23] want to keep you safe but keeping you safe a lot of times means keeping you exactly where you are okay

[00:34:28] so instead you're gonna need to counteract that messaging and you can counteract that messaging by

[00:34:33] getting in community with people for whom the other way at the way that you're moving is normalized

[00:34:39] be in community with people who have normalized the thing that you want whether it's moving abroad

[00:34:44] or learning how to crochet which is a thing that I'm working on when you're not community

[00:34:49] that thing and her doing that thing it becomes a normal part of your life and it helps you operate

[00:34:55] inside of the fear because we're always gonna be afraid fear is there but it helps to put fear

[00:35:01] in its place and helps you continue to make progress when you have community walking alongside

[00:35:09] you or a few steps ahead of you yeah I love that so much I love that Stephanie I have thoroughly enjoyed

[00:35:15] our conversation I have enjoyed it so much I've learned a lot so much of what you've shared has

[00:35:21] resonated with me and I know it's going to resonate with my audience in the event that folks want

[00:35:26] to get in touch with you how can they go about doing so my youtube channel is called Stephanie

[00:35:32] Perry it's not a creative name okay but it's easy to find an easy to spell my youtube channel is

[00:35:38] called Stephanie Perry come on over the 158,000 black women who are subscribed to my channel are awesome

[00:35:44] you'll love us okay my book job detox a framework for black women to stop striving and get free

[00:35:50] is at vacarius.com slash job detox and then I'm all over at vacarius on instagram or wherever

[00:35:58] you like to hang out on the internet and also I am a person who likes to talk so you don't have

[00:36:03] to feel like you just like you are nervous about it you don't have to feel afraid to reach out to

[00:36:08] me I like to talk my talk oh my goodness I I thoroughly enjoy this conversation and y'all

[00:36:15] just so you know we have had so many issues trying to get through this conversation because my

[00:36:20] thing my whole side kept dropping and Stephanie is the MVP of this conversation for sure and I just

[00:36:27] want to like personally let y'all know that and she really is such a gem thank you so much Stephanie

[00:36:34] I really appreciate it I've learned so much I know everyone else has as well my pleasure keep me

[00:36:39] posted on your moves okay keep me posted listen when your career break or whatever happens keep

[00:36:45] me posted I will thanks so much for listening to this episode if you enjoyed listening to

[00:36:55] hustle and faith and would like to support the show please consider sharing it with your friends

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