At the end of your high school career, everyone usually has the date they start college in the fall. But for me things were different. I was starting school in the spring meaning I had a whole semester off of school. At first I was horrified. I had no idea what to do or where to go but I knew I couldn't sit at home doing nothing. There I decided it would be a good idea to start doing an internship that related to my major.
As the year went on and I watched all my friends off at college I was starting my internship helping take care of fish tanks at this marine science center. I was doing great, having fun working with everyone there, but I slowly started to realize the marine science profession. This didn't mean I no longer loved what I wanted to do, it just meant it wasn't right for me. I wanted to do more. But it was something I only would have realized by doing this internship. Without that I would have been studying the wrong subject.
Taking the semester off gave me time to learn who I was in ways I could only learn out of college. I became my own person. Having time for myself, to really experience what it was like being on my own in ways you can't with all your friends in college.
I learned more about myself than I was able to learn ever before. I experienced life in a new way and had time for myself. Time to learn about myself and time to learn how to be content on my own. To make myself happy in life and do things that I wanted to do. It was time I needed off from school. Away from everyone and everything I knew to then finally reach what I wanted for myself in life. It was with the short amount of time off I explored things never before explored. A way to escape yet come to the reality of things. It was with this time off I learned who I was and what I wanted for myself and not for everyone else.
Sometimes taking time off results in those never going back to school. But in other cases I still went, but I came knowing more about what I want. And this was the best thing for me to do. It may not be the best for everyone, but it can be the best for those who don't know what they want. Or for those who need some time to find themselves. And this is why taking one semester off was the best thing I have ever done for myself.
