Pushing past her fear

Embarking on her six-month sabbatical in 2019, Mary Middleton said, “I left all things familiar and I welcomed the break with open arms.”

The executive director of the Stone Soup Group initially planned to travel alone, but as word spread about her break, friends and family often accompanied her on trips. She also took time to deepen a long-distance relationship.

By the end, Middleton had traveled more than 60,000 miles, through numerous states, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America — where she experienced what she called her “grandest of grand adventures.”

She visited places as remote as Easter Island, Chile, and as well-known as the Colosseum in Rome. In the Galapagos Islands, Middleton swam with sea turtles and sea lions and in Ecuador, she hiked in the Andes Mountains. She celebrated milestones with family, visited her parents’ grave, and met fellow adventurers along the way.

Middleton said she stopped “saying ‘no’ out of fear.” In Quito, Ecuador, despite a terror of heights, Middleton rode a cable car up a volcano to a lookout. There she got on a swing perched 13,500 feet above the city. It was, she says, one of the scariest things she’s ever done, but she knew pushing past her fear was important. And that gave her the confidence to try other new things.

Each step of the way, Middleton was accompanied by “Trudy,” a Flat Stanley doll created by her Stone Soup staff from a collage of all of their faces. She said it’s because of their commitment and support that she was able to truly disconnect from work and get the most from her time away.

“The sabbatical experience has left us fundamentally stronger and better connected, as individuals and as an organization,” she said.