When I had just graduated high school, I had a plan for exactly what I wanted to do with my life: I was going to go straight into culinary school. Afterwards, the plan was for me to get a business degree and open up my very own five-star restaurant in the heart of downtown Toronto. That was the dream, the end goal and it had been my plan all through high school. Thankfully, I learned I was expecting my daughter. That’s when I chose to take what some people call a “gap year.”
My gap year then turned into a couple of years, and I don’t regret that at all. It gave me a chance to realize that I really didn’t want to work in the food industry for the rest of my life, washing vegetables, stirring pots, checking fridge temperatures and chopping ingredients, which sometimes would include the odd finger. The thought of changing what I was going to become was terrifying since all I knew was what I didn’t want to do.
So how could I start university with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life? Some people fresh out of high school have an exact game plan (similar what I did) and complete it from start to finish. Others have an idea of what field they want to end up in, but don’t know exactly what they want to do. That’s fine, if you can be happy with the choice you made in high school for what you want to do. But sometimes, it may take time or even a gap year, to figure out exactly what you want to do.
My gap year gave me a chance to look into other things that I was interested in like literature, writing and criminology. That’s why when I did start university, I chose to earn a degree that fits what I’m passionate about. The thought being that when I find subjects that I really enjoy, I’ll be able to think about the kind of jobs I can get in those subjects.
It worked. I know exactly where I want to go now and it’s not even close to the five-star restaurant owner that I wanted to be when I was only eighteen. I want to be a psychologist. Now that I’m earning the degree that I’m passionate about, I’ve found the path that best suits me. It took a while and included taking time off from school, but I still got there all the same.
It’s not like I just sat around during my time off either. Obviously I helped my daughter grow, but I also did other things. I worked part-time and spent a lot of time reading all kinds of books. Some people travel the world or work to start earning money for their tuition while on their gap year. It’s not like your gap year is set in stone, you can basically do what you want. But, you don’t want to be sitting around munching Kraft Dinner and watching Netflix for a year. If you do decide to take a year off, try to do something that will help you gain experience in the real world or find what you’re passionate about.