After spending the past 2 years of your life spending day and night studying to get the best grades that you possibly could, it’s understandable that one would want to take a gap year and focus on themselves for a while. Here’s everything you should think about before deciding to take a gap year.
What to expect:
There are many reasons why students decide to take a gap year. It could be anything from wanting to take a break from studying, to figuring out what you want to do in life, improving your student profile, gaining work experience or improving yourself. However, you need to be prepared for what the gap year will hold for you.
Societal expectations are that a person keeps moving and doing, without a break. Once you try to break from the norm, you might have to hear some snarky comments from condescending relatives, family friends, or even strangers. You need to be prepared for the comments people might pass along, and the questions that will follow.
There may also come a point where you’re tired of being at home or having nothing to do. Sometimes, you might even think you’re going slightly insane. There may also be feelings of fear of missing out, as all your friends and classmates move along with their lives and are busy all the time.
Gap Year Do’s and Don’ts: How to make the most out of your gap year
You need to ensure that you utilize the full potential of this time and opportunity, and that you don’t waste any moment of it. Having a year off seems like loads of fun, and it can be, but you could also use this time to prepare for the future.
A gap year provides you with enough time to reflect. You can use this time to gain a better sense of sense and to broaden your view of the world. You can increase your self-awareness and boost your self-confidence, maturity and independence. You could also use this time to figure out what you want to do in the career, think about your career interests and what degree program you want to major in. You could also take this time to set up a good outline for yourself and control how you manage your day-to-day.
Gap years are the perfect opportunity to refocus after school and do all the things you couldn’t do while studying because you didn’t have the energy, time or motivation. Now’s the chance to learn a new language, experience a new culture, develop new life skills, discover a hidden passion, take up a new hobby, travel the world and so on.
You could also take up a job in order to boost your resume by gaining work experience and key skills, and earn some money. This would also help you develop useful contacts and to challenge yourself.
However, taking a gap year could also be a failed plan if it’s not thought out or planned properly. You could potentially waste a lot of time if you have no idea what you want to achieve coming out of this break. Make sure that you have well thought out all of what you wish to accomplish in this period.
Some students also find this break too distracting and at the end, don’t want to return to their education. You have to be very straightforward and continuously motivated about your goals throughout and be passionate enough that you do not deter off the track that you’ve laid out for your future.
