"Sabbatical" is a new concept to me as well. Where I'm from, they are unpaid.
I do subscribe to the idea that you should definitely provide a sufficient value to earn a paycheck and I do like the idea to first look inwards for the problem. I don't think what you described is a sustainable way to live though. Expectations are external and you don't have much, if any, control over them. If "not being at 100% of expectations is the same as suicide" for a long period of time, than that mindset itself is suicide. How can you always meet a 100% of something you have no control over?
Don't get me wrong, I know people's situations are vastly different and sometimes you do what you have to do at a given time to survive. But if you operate like that for a long-time, I don't think your psyche will stay intact.