--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Just because suddenly you have a…" description: "\"Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean that the writing occasion comes to you.\" — Shirley Geok-lin Lim" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png" --- # Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean… ![“Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean that the writing occasion comes to you.” quote by Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png) > “Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean that the writing occasion comes to you.” [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A sabbatical does not automatically bring inspiration; effort still required. **In simple terms:** Sabbatical ≠ inspiration. Key Takeaway Use the time to create, not wait. Themes creativity discipline opportunity Mood thoughtful motivational Type advice inspirational When to use this quote - writing retreats - career breaks - project planning Key Concepts motivation self‑direction Questions to Reflect On - What active steps will you take during your sabbatical? - How can you structure time to foster creativity? A Different Perspective Assuming inspiration will appear can lead to stagnation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Occasions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occasions/) [Sabbatical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sabbatical/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Why couldn't she, at least just this once, suddenly find magical powers?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecelia-ahern/why-couldn-t-she-at-least-just-this-once-suddenly-find-magical-powers/) [Cecelia Ahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecelia-ahern/) > [Isn't it so weird the day you wake up and you're just going with the flow? And you just suddenly are a mom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-heigl/isn-t-it-so-weird-the-day-you-wake-up-and-you-re-just-going-with-the/) [Katherine Heigl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-heigl/) > [Very quickly, without really looking back or trying, I was just suddenly lifted into another sphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-cilento/very-quickly-without-really-looking-back-or-trying-i-was-just/) [Diane Cilento](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-cilento/) > [Those moments when I just suddenly burst into tears...releasing the pain I held since the past few days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tabby-marie/those-moments-when-i-just-suddenly-burst-into-tears-releasing-the/) [Tabby Marie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tabby-marie/) > [“People don't suddenly just change, you just suddenly see the real them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-blanchard/people-don-t-suddenly-just-change-you-just-suddenly-see-the-real-them/) Michelle Blanchard > [Sometimes when I write songs, I don't know what they're about, and it just suddenly comes to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lykke-li/sometimes-when-i-write-songs-i-don-t-know-what-they-re-about-and-it/) [Lykke Li](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lykke-li/) > [Those moments when you just suddenly burst into tears...releasing the pain you've held since the past few days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/those-moments-when-you-just-suddenly-burst-into-tears-releasing-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But just suddenly I really, really needed to see you again right that minute, that night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-handler/but-just-suddenly-i-really-really-needed-to-see-you-again-right-that/) [Daniel Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-handler/) > [I can't just suddenly become 'Little Peace and Love Jair'... I've got to carry on being the same person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jair-bolsonaro/i-can-t-just-suddenly-become-little-peace-and-love-jair-i-ve-got-to/) [Jair Bolsonaro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jair-bolsonaro/) > [My sabbatical from Bollywood was a conscious decision. I was never in the rat race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/supriya-pathak/my-sabbatical-from-bollywood-was-a-conscious-decision-i-was-never-in/) [Supriya Pathak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/supriya-pathak/) > [“A long sabbatical into her day-to-day care, part of the mechanics of dying. He’d done all he could. But choosing to lovingly care for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-ford/a-long-sabbatical-into-her-day-to-day-care-part-of-the-mechanics-of/) [Jamie Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-ford/) > [I feel like everybody needs to take a sabbatical and go to Russia and Africa and work in orphanages and really witness true suffering.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/i-feel-like-everybody-needs-to-take-a-sabbatical-and-go-to-russia-and/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [When someone like me takes a sabbatical, it leads to a few happy realisations. It was only when I was away that I realised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akshaye-khanna/when-someone-like-me-takes-a-sabbatical-it-leads-to-a-few-happy/) [Akshaye Khanna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akshaye-khanna/) > [I decided to lock myself in. A forced segregation. Sabbatical. A retreat into myself. My selves. Play hide and go seek in the looking-glass.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/i-decided-to-lock-myself-in-a-forced-segregation-sabbatical-a-retreat/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [I am on sabbatical as of right now, been too busy to think of about my OWN needs as of late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-diamond/i-am-on-sabbatical-as-of-right-now-been-too-busy-to-think-of-about-my/) [Jim Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-diamond/) ## More by Shirley Geok-lin Lim > [Now that I'm more middle class, I have access to consumer goods. I do enjoy feminine frippery, feminine doo-da, stuff like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/now-that-i-m-more-middle-class-i-have-access-to-consumer-goods-i-do/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [The poem might come to you as you're preparing to teach a lecture, right? And when you say, "no" to that occasion, that poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/the-poem-might-come-to-you-as-you-re-preparing-to-teach-a-lecture/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Once you stop talking about the female body empowering itself vis-à-vis male forays or invasions or male demands or the necessity to respond to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/once-you-stop-talking-about-the-female-body-empowering-itself-vis-vis/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [I have a muse who's very powerful, but I'm still a hopeless deadbeat of a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-have-a-muse-who-s-very-powerful-but-i-m-still-a-hopeless-deadbeat/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Free verse is chained in sentence-to-sentence links and breaks free in line breaks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/free-verse-is-chained-in-sentence-to-sentence-links-and-breaks-free/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [ I feel compassionate, because I know \[students\] all have to go down this road of suffering and it's going to be tough. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-feel-compassionate-because-i-know-students-all-have-to-go-down-this/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Even after the mothering dropped because my son grew up, the writing - the muse - was always the third wheel, the lowest on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/even-after-the-mothering-dropped-because-my-son-grew-up-the-writing/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [If you've been in a symbolic struggle long enough, even when the struggle is over, you don't know it's over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/if-you-ve-been-in-a-symbolic-struggle-long-enough-even-when-the/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > ["I want to be always happy," Maxine Hong Kingston announces . But, as this interview makes clear, for me, it was the desire to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-want-to-be-always-happy-maxine-hong-kingston-announces-but-as-this/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [I'm in my 60s, and a cancer scare just makes you more aware of mortality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-m-in-my-60s-and-a-cancer-scare-just-makes-you-more-aware-of/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Crows appear in many of my new unpublished poems. In these walks, they take on a symbolic life apart from their irritating, undeniable, interruptive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/crows-appear-in-many-of-my-new-unpublished-poems-in-these-walks-they/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [People called me a tomboy. That was the term used then. I was very much someone who was comfortable in male clothing, and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/people-called-me-a-tomboy-that-was-the-term-used-then-i-was-very-much/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [I'm much more comfortable in pants and shirts, running around. There was a typical construction about womanhood when I was growing up that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-m-much-more-comfortable-in-pants-and-shirts-running-around-there/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [I have some weak poems in that new collection, which is why I'm not ready to send the collection out yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/i-have-some-weak-poems-in-that-new-collection-which-is-why-i-m-not/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [If I could write a novel while I'm walking, I probably would.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/if-i-could-write-a-novel-while-i-m-walking-i-probably-would/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) [Explore all 137 Shirley Geok-lin Lim quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) ## More Mean quotes > [That we have the vote means nothing. That we use it in the right way means everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-henry-hoover/that-we-have-the-vote-means-nothing-that-we-use-it-in-the-right-way/) [Lou Henry Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-henry-hoover/) > [The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-searle/the-problem-posed-by-indirect-speech-acts-is-the-problem-of-how-it-is/) [John Searle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-searle/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [A home is not a museum. It doesn't have to be furnished with Picasso paintings, or Sheraton suites, or Oriental rugs, or Chinese pottery.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-m-cain/a-home-is-not-a-museum-it-doesn-t-have-to-be-furnished-with-picasso/) [James M. Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-m-cain/) > [I painted the words "GREAT ADVENTURE" in Beijing, Dallas, San Francisco, Copenhagen, and Japan. What it means to me is completely different to everybody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-eine/i-painted-the-words-great-adventure-in-beijing-dallas-san-francisco/) [Ben Eine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-eine/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [Being blonde, for me, means never having to say: 'I'll have the honey-striped half-head of highlights for £200,' to a bored colourist in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-johnson/being-blonde-for-me-means-never-having-to-say-i-ll-have-the-honey/) [Rachel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-johnson/) > [It's very easy to fool yourself that you're working, you know, when you're really not working very hard. I mean, I'm very lazy. 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Halfway between what it really means and what you'd like it to mean?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-scalia/what-is-a-moderate-interpretation-of-the-text-halfway-between-what-it/) [Antonin Scalia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-scalia/) > [You have expressive nationalism, I mean very identity driven, which shaped each other a lot of that in the Middle East.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/subrahmanyam-jaishankar/you-have-expressive-nationalism-i-mean-very-identity-driven-which/) [Subrahmanyam Jaishankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/subrahmanyam-jaishankar/) > [The one means that wins the easiest victory over reason is terror and force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-one-means-that-wins-the-easiest-victory-over-reason-is-terror-and/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. 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Writing is partly about listening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/i-am-attracted-to-looking-at-the-different-things-language-can-mean/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) Browse all 33,959 Mean quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean that the writing occasion comes to you.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Shirley Geok-lin Lim" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbatical-doesn-t-mean-that-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mean" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbatical-doesn-t-mean-that-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dd/shirley-geok-lin-lim-3190_mean_just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbati_1991561.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Just because suddenly you have a sabbatical doesn't mean that the writing occasion comes to you.” — Shirley Geok-lin Lim", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Shirley Geok-lin Lim", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Just because suddenly you have a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbatical-doesn-t-mean-that-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/just-because-suddenly-you-have-a-sabbatical-doesn-t-mean-that-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```