I Regret Not Taking a Gap Year
My life could’ve been so different
When I reached my final year of high school and looked at options for university, it felt like that was the only route open to me.
I didn’t even consider a gap year, not for a single second. It honestly was never presented as an option. My school wrongly made it seem as if only people who didn’t get into their chosen university took one. I was an overachiever, so I applied to universities and accepted an offer.
A gap year was presented as a deviation from your path rather than a path of its own.
But during my studies, I met people who had taken a gap year. I was shocked to hear this. They spoke of their gap years with such wonder and gratitude, of the things they did and how far they felt from their eighteen-year-old selves.
They had gone travelling, done courses, worked — a multitude of things. And then they had come to the very university I rushed to, with a better idea of who they are and who they want to be. These were the people that did well in classes and walked with self-assuredness while the rest of us scuttled insecurely.
There are many benefits to a gap year
By the time we graduate high school, we’ve likely spent all of our conscious years in a…
