People say that once you take time off from school you never go back. That is a load of crap. Taking a year and a half off was something I will never regret doing. I've talked to more people that wish they would have taken a gap year than people who are glad they came to school right away. School at the time of graduation just was not of me, but now it's the most important thing in my life.

The time I took off from school gave me the time I felt I needed to mature enough to make reasonable decisions (not saying that those right from high school can't make reasonable decisions). I was worried about the money, lack of motivation I had for school, and not really knowing where I ever wanted to go. It appealed to me but I never took it seriously. So I took the initiative to take some time to figure out what I wanted.

I wanted to travel. I loved the thought of just going to new places and wanted to do as much of that as I could while I was able to. In my year and a half, I went and visited a long-distance best friend and her family in Florida on three separate occasions, did a solo cross country trip (I went to Texas, then to Florida, and finally came back to Pennsylvania after two weeks). I randomly went to more local places like Pittsburgh and sometimes out to visit my families. I am so blessed I was able to experience the things I did while away traveling. I knew then that this would be a large part of my life, and it still is even now being in school. I also was blessed to have a job that allowed me to do these incredible things.

In my time off, I worked as a home-health aid. It was the best and worst job I ever had. I love my consumers, their families, and what I did day-to-day. I was driving a lot, meeting new people all the time, and found that I love working and being around patients that had Alzheimer's and Dementia. This was my joy every day going to work knowing that I would get to see and spend time with someone affected by this. This was also the downfall of my job. Even though I loved them all so much, when they would have a really bad day I would also have a bad day. I was too attached to them and hated to see them upset and clearly hurting. After a year at this job, I was not only physically exhausted, I was emotionally and mentally spent. I had made a decision to start back that coming spring, and I'm so thrilled I stuck it out.

Coming back was the hardest decision of my life. I was terrified to see how much information I had forgotten since high school, and had no thought of really being able to do well. I set a goal to try and get a 3.0 my first semester back. I honestly thought I would do so much worse than I actually did. I came in thinking this was going to be so horrible and that I was never going to have time to enjoy life anymore. I don't think I could have been more wrong in my entire life.

College is the best decision I've ever made (aside from taking time off). I now belong to the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, have made the Dean's List, and continue to find the benefits of college everyday. Now, I understand college is not for everyone and that's okay. Things aren't always done the way people think they need to be done. I went with what my gut was telling me to do, and I'm so glad I made the decision to trust myself. You know what is best for you at the end of the day.

Taking time off does not mean you are going to fail, it just means you're taking time to figure yourself out. And if that means coming back then great. If it means you go to work instead then great. You can be successful in any endeavor you set out on. Things always work out the way they are supposed to, and I would not change a thing of where my life has taken me so far.