As an 18 year old freshman in college, there is a feeling I have that something in my life is missing. The transition from high school to college was very drastic, and I am thankful for that. I did not want to feel like a child anymore, and college made sure of that. However, now that I am in a new environment after being captivated in the same one for four years, something is telling me that this is should not be my life.
The thought about taking a gap year was always in my mind, but I never took action for it. I thought about what my parents would think and how they would worry about my future. I also feared that if I did take a gap year, that I would not be as focused to go back to school than if I decided not to take it. Money was a big part of why I did not pursue a year off. Many aspects went into why I should not take it, rather than why I should take it.
Now that I am in school, part of me feels empty. 18 is a young age, yet I am expected to know exactly what I want to do with my life step by step. Although I can give someone a step by step on what I want my life to be, I simply cannot guarantee that it will be that way. All I know is how to go to school, how to do my homework, how to take a test/quiz, and how to not sleep. At 18 years old, I should be figuring out what I want to do for the rest of my life, not have a blueprint of it.
I feel as though taking a gap year, especially at my wonderful age of 18 where I am told that I have the world at my fingertips, would have been a truly inspiring decision. The gap year would have allowed me to travel to different places around the world. I am not talking about going to Bora Bora and living luxuriously; I am talking about going to third world countries and helping families in need. I am talking about going to Africa and going on a safari. I am talking about going to Thailand and eating real Thai food. When I talk about taking a gap year, I don't mean I want to take a year to sit around and do nothing because I deserve it. I mean I want to take a year to travel and experience lives of other people, to try and figure out who I want to be myself. My poor young soul is craving for something new. What I learn in school will never be the same as what I learn from life experiences.
Not taking a gap year was a poor decision in my eyes. I feel as though I needed a year of experience in order to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my years on this earth. The fear of not being motivated to go back to school is nothing more than a fear. If I took the gap year, and figured out who I want to be, school would be much more enjoyable. If the world is truly at my fingertips, why am I still sitting in a classroom?
