Taking a sabbatical: What happens when you step away from work?

In 2025, Rachel Auth Melgaard left a big job at Google without the next one lined up. Deliberately, she took time off. Along the way, she advised founders (like this one), built a website for people with celiac disease, and took care of the many things that can fall by the wayside as our families grow and change. We asked her five questions about the break: what was lost and what was gained. And one question about BeamMe.

What did the first months of your sabbatical feel like, and what surprised you?

The most amazing part happened in the first 48 hours.

All of a sudden, maybe 90% of the things that kept me up at night, 90% of the things that occupied space in my brain, completely disappeared. In an instant, I felt this sense of lightness and spaciousness that I hadn't experienced in 20 years.

It was absolutely stunning because I wasn't expecting that visceral feeling.

Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much of my brain capacity was taken up by concerns about my career, my team, the business I was managing, the strategy we were implementing.

All of these things were fascinating and intellectually interesting to me. But I realized they had created a weight in my life that, when it was gone, felt magical.

How did you decide when — and whether — to go back to work?

I was intentional about taking the first summer to reconnect with family and friends.

Toward the end of the summer, I decided to reconnect with two people from my professional life every week. Former colleagues, college classmates, people I'd met at conferences — anyone was fair game.

I made a spreadsheet and started reaching out. Those conversations became my way of figuring out where, what, and who I wanted to be next.

I took a long time because I didn't just want to go back to work.

I wanted to go back to thinking about interesting business challenges with people who were smart, kind and fun.

After so many years at Google, I knew I could get a great job doing the same thing again, or something very similar. I could continue in big tech.

But was that really what I wanted?

The conversations helped me reconnect with what I actually enjoyed in my career, rather than what I knew I could do next or what I felt I should do next.

I was trying to get away from the should and get to the want. That sounds so basic, but it's hard, particularly after you've spent so many years on a career trajectory.

Once I got clarity on what I wanted, I knew I was ready to go back to work.

And then it became much clearer how to find opportunities that aligned with what I wanted, rather than simply looking for available jobs that represented the next step on the path I'd already been following.

When you started interviewing, how did you talk about the gap? What did you say — and what did you refuse to say?

The gap came up, but it was actually very simple to talk through because I could be honest.

After spending so many years at one company, I think it made sense to people that I was assessing different opportunities and thinking about my skill set in relation to those opportunities and the changing media and business landscape.

I didn't explicitly bring up the gap, but I didn't shy away from it if someone asked.

To me, it wasn't a problem. It was my solution.

I saw it as something that helped me find the best result for myself and match my skill set to the right opportunity.

Instead of running away from something, I was running toward something.

What did the break do to your résumé — and what turned out to matter more or less than you feared?

When people asked what I'd been spending my time doing, that was actually a fun question.

I'd been reading books, going to museums, doing deep thinking, playing with all the AI tools on the market, building a website, and working with a former colleague on her startup.

I'd been thinking about things I hadn't had the space or time to engage with deeply and meaningfully.

I hadn't had time to do so many things because I'd been so immersed in one business problem.

It was wonderful to zoom out and get a different perspective on what was happening across the broader landscape.

And when I spoke with potential employers, I could talk about the business challenges they were likely facing because of external factors. I was more tapped into those developments because I'd had the time, mental space and clarity to engage with different things.

Looking back, what did the break change — and not change — about how you work? And what do you wish you'd kept a record of?

In interviews, people want you to show up with structured answers and a structured way of thinking.

The structured thinking was no problem. But the incredibly specific details that go with each example? Those were hard to retrieve from the notes I'd retained over the years.

I had to go through this long process of backtracking, checking in with former colleagues, going through loads of my own notes. When did we launch that product? How long did it take to get to market? What was our approach? How many customers did we go to?

Those details don't generally matter in your day-to-day work. But in an interview, they really do. They create the color and context that allow the listener to come along with you and believe that you actually did the work.

Without those details, the interviewer has a hard time believing you did it. And you have a hard time telling the story in a way that conveys the depth of what occurred.

I wish I'd had BeamMe because those specific examples would already have been there, ready for me.

As for how I work now, I think I've realized how important it is to take things seriously while recognizing that the business context you're operating within isn't necessarily applicable to the rest of your life.

So I've become more intentional about how much of the stress and detail of work I bring into the rest of my life.

I want to keep work at work and enjoy the process more.

We get to solve really interesting business problems. But that's what they are: really interesting business problems.

They're not personal me problems. They're not you problems. That's been a very helpful distinction for me.

Bonus question: You're more than a BeamMe advisor. You're also a user. Would you share one insight about how you work that surprised you?

I've put both professional and personal accomplishments into BeamMe. I didn't think much of it at the time because I was simply logging what I was doing and thinking about in that moment.

What I really liked was how BeamMe connected those personal and professional accomplishments and pulled out the thread showing me that, no matter where I am, I'm still showing up the same way.

That sounds so obvious. But it wasn't obvious to me.

It was fascinating to realize that a lot of the things I'm interested in or pursuing as projects in my personal life are also applicable to the way I approach my professional life.