September 13, 2019

Taking a year-long sabbatical from work with Francine Mends

57 minutes

Francine Mends' life is unrecognizable from four years ago when she was feeling trapped and miserable in her highly specialized field of neuroradiology, with no escape in sight.

After a series of personal tragedies that emotionally shook her to her core, she decided to finally make some serious (and scary) changes in her life, including doing something she never imagined she could do: take a year-long sabbatical from work.

Since then, she's quit her job, lived internationally, worked as a digital nomad, and started her own business.

Listen in to this week's interview with a normal person as Kristen and Francine talk about…

How she broke through her self-imposed limitations to finally make big life changes that she never imagined she could make.
How she was able to take a year-long sabbatical from work to travel the world and get right within herself.
Once she realized she wanted to work for herself, how she figured out what business to start.
Her criteria for choosing a bridge job to support her new business, without sacrificing her newfound freedom.
What advice she wishes she could give her past self or anyone who's feeling trapped in a career they don't love.

After you've listened, leave a comment to let us know how Francine's story resonated with you.

MORE ABOUT FRANCINE

Francine doesn't have a passion. At least not in the traditional sense. She's curious, and embracing her passionless curiosity has made coping with life's uncertainties (like breaking her collarbone in Myanmar) tolerable and even fun.

As a recovering perfectionist, a recovering physician, a writer, and a formerly shy person, Francine loves hearing people's stories and sharing lessons from her journey. Although she is currently nomadic, having last lived in Portugal, her heart is firmly planted in NYC. She relishes not having to wake up early, eating freshly made guacamole, and listening to water sounds (including but not limited to waterfalls, fountains, ocean waves).

Francine is the founder of Evolving Conversations, a platform for anyone who loves deep thought and deep conversation and wishes it was easier to make better connections in their everyday lives. She firmly believes that you can talk deeply about anything, and she helps other do so on her site Evolving Conversations (onevolving.com). She's on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at Onevolving. You can also find her on Medium, where she regularly writes guest posts that are the stimuli for the deep, provocative conversations she loves to have with people in her growing community.

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