You Definitely Wasted Your Time Taking That Gap Year
Can someone explain to me what the goal of a gap year is? What does it do? Barack’s my guy…but what in God’s name was he and Michelle thinking when they let Malia do that? While I understand a President’s daughter on her way to Harvard is not your typical millennial, taking a gap year to not really do anything tangible that would move your life forward is certainly typical millennial hullabaloo.
For those who don’t actually know, gap years are periods either after high school or after college in which graduates pretty much….chill. For a year. In that time, Gap Yearees will probably travel, definitely spend money, work non-committal part-time jobs, volunteer (hopefully), try new fun hobbies and activities, and maybe even commit crimes and get into some weird shit. I don’t know. But the idea behind gap years is that they’re supposed to be one last hurrah before life gets serious. It’s supposed to be a mental break after working hard in school and continuing in higher education or starting the rest of your life. Gap years are one last chance to put your life on hold.
Unfortunately, and you may have heard this nugget of wisdom before, but life doesn’t go on hold for anyone. And life’s actually pretty hard because everyone wants a great life and you actually have to earn that great life. Whether you spend your gap year traversing some balmy jungle and not showering for weeks or you spend it on your couch watching MTV reruns in your jam-jams until 4:30PM, there’s someone looking for his/her own success and moving forward. And no one likes being passed by.
There are 2.1 MILLION new graduates every single year in America clamoring for jobs — and it’s climbing! If incoming graduates haven’t already started applying for jobs during the school year, they certainly hit the bricks and apply after college. Many businesses will even schedule hiring periods around semesters ending in order to access the ambitious go-getters looking to dive into the workforce. Put yourself in a hiring manger’s shoes. Do you want the kid who’s gone straight from school to work without missing a beat and is go, go, go? Or do you want the other kid who can tell you about all the cool drugs they did in some swamp as they “found themselves”?
What is there to find when one finds himself? What was it about your vacation and your gap year that gave you a sense of identity at 22 years old that will be immutable for the rest of your days? Were you so shook by having classes and an internship at the same time that you would’ve exploded if you didn’t take a year off? What did you find, exactly? Did you find that you didn’t want to start working? Did you find yourself increasingly in debt?
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t want to be a curmudgeon. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to have a vacation and take a breather after working hard for a number of years. Hell, you should really take multiple vacations every year to keep yourself sane.
But let’s call a gap year just that: a vacation. We should not lie to ourselves. I’m not going to go to Applebee’s and say it was a special night out, you shouldn’t sit on the bench of life for a year and say that you’re better for the experience. Is the person interviewing you really going to believe you became wiser, more cultured, and more self-confident when you were sleeping in a hostel next to someone’s feet? And if they do believe that, do you really want to work for that doorknob?
