Post-IB stint sabbatical?

Bump

I took a two year sabbatical to become a cage fighter. I got knocked out and now my nose looks worse than Owen Wilson's. Only my left ear is cauliflowered and if I comb my hair in that direction, I look like I'm always leaving.

Safe to say, the long term impact this has had on my self esteem has, in fact, been detrimental.

Depends how you do it, how long, and how you define “suffered”.

Have numerous friends who got a PE gig lined up, and took 3-6 months off before starting post IB. 
 

Quitting without a job lined up and just taking a year off is going to likely require a stepping stone job and will close some doors. That said, the doors it closes are likely pretty small in reality and limited to well-known known funds. Just as an example, post analyst stint, assuming you kept a good relationship with your firm, you could likely come back as an associate do that for 2 years and then jump to PE. It might not be KKR, but 4 years of banking is still 4 years of banking and a firm somewhere will want that. 
 

One thing I will say is a year is really pretty ridiculous Imo. You can get a shitload done in even 2 weeks in terms of travel/ goals/ personal recharging. Take it further and say 3 months—that’s like a summer vacation as a kid—after 3 months you are unlikely to feel burned out still from an analyst stint. The question everyone will want to ask is wtf were you doing for an entire year? If it’s a good story, I’ve found people can be pretty understanding.