No, this post isn’t about jeans. The “gap year” refers to an event where you drop everything you are doing right now in your everyday life and take just take a hike for a whole year! This usually involves traveling around the world, but it can also involve taking odd jobs in the places you visit to fuel your extended hiatus.
Most people are afraid of missing out on a few weeks, or maybe even a day of “being in the loop”. Life is so fast nowadays, you get left behind so easily, etc. etc. There are many reasons to keep yourself in the daily grind. Some people just manage to take themselves completely out of that loop and explore what the rest of the world is like. And guess what? They more often than not come back with a better perspective on life, with a better appreciation of the everyday things they do than the ones who are constantly in it.
One amazing site about people who have successfully had a gap year is The Lost Girls blog, composed of three twentysomething New Yorkers (the center of the world, right?) all working in the media industry (where you have to be up-to-date every minute!). They all quit their jobs and toured the world for a year. Interestingly, they stayed out of most of the expensive countries and cities, but were still able to go to four continents and had a blast in each one. More importantly, by taking a gap year instead of a two-week vacation, they didn’t have a hurried tour around each country, which can feel as stressful as work itself and can seriously burn you out on your vacation.
I haven’t taken a gap year yet. My wife and I though are keen on having an opportunity to do this within the next couple of years. We’ve identified a milestone where we can drop everything and wave “see you next year!” to everyone, though. If and when that happens, we’ll tell you about it.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Antony Wilson // Jan 11, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hi Atlas,
Like your blog and glad your going to be taking a year out. Life is definately about living!
Gapyears have become very popular in the past 6 or 7 years in the UK for students who take a year off before going to university or part way university. I am from the UK and Career Breaks for older people is now also getting very popular. I now work for a Gapyear travel company called Yomps and we are now also seeing the idea of taking a break from school or work becoming popular in other part of the world also. Its definately catching on and its nice to see that people want to get out of the “rat race” of life and enjoy themselves.
Good luck with your gap year.
Antony
2 atlas_shrugged // Jan 12, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Hi Antony,
Thanks for the comment. Definitely, people are seeing now that there is more to life than being in the rat race. While we’re still not ready to take our gap year yet, we’re always making sure to take meaningful vacations every year while planning for the time where we can take our gap year. Hope the idea catches on with the rest of Asia!
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