Slowing Down: Lessons From a Career Break By Haley MacDonell
Movement is a core part of Ben Cilek’s life. He is a cyclist, a runner and a triathlete. To recover from various aches and pains from his physical activities and improve his flexibility, he became passionate about yoga. “Over time it started to become more of a mental practice than physical,” Cilek explains. “Some of those principles of yoga – of slowing down, just breathing and connecting with your breath – made me want to slow down in life, too.”
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AZ CPA MAY/JUNE 2022
In the mid-2010s, Cilek was ready to reassess what he wanted out of his work and life. He decided to take a break from the last 18 years in corporate accounting and finance, which had allowed him to be a trusted business advisor and help investigate the innerworkings of an entire business. There was a well-walked path in front of him that led to retirement and plenty of time for adventures. But, the cycling trips on his bucket list in the high mountains of the U.S., Europe and other places around the world could look different by the time retirement arrived. “I can do this now, but I don’t know if I will be able to do this when I’m 60 or 65,” Cilek recalls. “I wanted to slow down and reevaluate if I was living the life I wanted to live. I felt like I couldn’t make some of those assessments while I was in the working world.” Many American workers have been reevaluating their professional and personal journeys in the past two years. Nearly 1 in 3 workers in the United States under the age of 40 have thought about changing their occupation or field of work since the pandemic began, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted in July 2021. A saying from his yoga practice stuck out in Cilek’s mind as he considered the career break: In stillness are the answers. With a goal in mind, he began planning to make it happen. Two to three years before his career break, he included his therapist and his financial planner in on his idea. Cilek also began creating the roadmap for the break, which included travel to new places as well as visiting family and friends, connecting with his Phoenix community and deepening his spiritual practice.
