I spoke to 6 people who bounced back from a career break. These 3 lessons stuck with me.

Joshua Paul for BI Business Insider's reporter Charissa Cheong spent hours interview people who took career breaks.

She turned the interviews into her series My Big Break, which explores how the people bounced back.

She learned a lot from the interviewees, including how sacrifice can be character-building.

Over the past four months, I've spent hours interviewing people who were brave enough to take a career break.

I wanted to know if and how they overcame the many obstacles career returners face when trying to crack the job market.

It all built up to the series My Big Break , which told a diverse range of stories, from stepping away to care for a child with autism, caring for parents until their final breaths, and moving to another country with family and leaving a job behind.

As someone who isn't planning a career break any time soon, one thing I didn't expect was to learn so much from the people who shared their stories with me.

Although their journeys weren't always smooth, I took comfort in seeing how they adapted, found ways to move forward in their careers, and learned lessons that shaped their character.

Here are three lessons I learned.

1.

Your network can help your career comeback In my fantasy career break, I'd be offline and unplugged as much as possible.

But the more interviews I did, the more I noticed how big a difference staying in touch with one's network can make in a comeback.

Nicki Schroeder took a career break to care for her daughter.

Hanna-Katrina Jedrosz for BI When Nicki Schroeder, a UK-based media lawyer, tried to re-enter her industry after 10 years, her contacts helped her get back up to speed, meaning she was prepared for her successful job interview .