Last week I had the pleasure of participating in a week-long session for gap year advisors hosted by the team at the Gap Year Association, and I came away even more inspired by the impact of taking a gap year.
In fact, it was so inspiring that I am now debating whether or not to take a year off to do one. But, I have bills, and I digress…
I have previously written about Gap Years, giving some high-level tips to get families started with the planning of a meaningful gap year, largely based on my experience working for City Year, a service based, national gap year program. But after last week’s learning, I am excited to share some of what I learned to hopefully provide even more guidance to families excited by the prospect of a gap year.
So, over the next few weeks I’ll dive deeper into the tips I gave and hopefully spur some ideas, and questions, about gap years, especially in this year of FAFSA snafus. Today, we’ll start with setting a clear purpose for your gap year.
“A gap year really needs a North Star to be successfully planned.
If what you plan together helps your student accomplish their North Star,
it should probably be in the plan. If it doesn’t, it should probably be on
the chopping block.”
When I refer to a North Star, it is the guiding light for the experience. It’s the bigger purpose that, if achieved, would mean that your gap year was a success. The North Star will necessarily be unique to the individual, and it can evolve over time, but it is needed to start in a clear direction.
Here is a list of questions you can ask yourself to help identify what the North Star of your gap year should be:
What are my strengths?
What am I doing when I am at my happiest?
What are some things you’ve always wanted to do, but felt like they weren’t possible?
What would you do tomorrow if money and responsibilities weren’t a factor?
When you have free time, how do you spend it?
Are you happy with your answer to #5?
What was the last thing that made you say “I was born to do this”?
When you look back at your life, what do you hope you will be able to say about it?
What do you hope others will say about you in reflection?
What would you most like to change about the world, and why?
What challenges are you most proud of overcoming?
What advice would you give your best friend about what to do if they were in your spot?
What is the one thing you would most like to change about yourself?
Where have you always wanted to visit?
What is(are) the thing(s) you can do now, that you don’t think you would be able to do when you are older?
How healthy are my current habits? Which ones could be improved?
What is one thing you’ve always wanted to learn how to do?
What is my biggest accomplishment, thus far?
What kinds of people do I most enjoy spending time around?
What other questions came up doing this that I need to think more about?
Ideally, you will be working with people close to you in the planning of the year, and I strongly encourage you to write down your answers to these questions and to run them by people you trust. It’s hard to get to deep answers on questions like these, and trusted friends can help push you.
You also will need to discuss your answers and thoughts with others to pull your true North Star from this exercise. I wish I could tell you that the answer will magically appear to you and that it will be 100% correct, we all know that’s not the case 99% of the time. You will need to keep pushing yourself to get to the North Star you need, and so that you can move forward with your planning.
If you want to learn more about the Gap Year Association and to tap into their amazing resources, you can find them HERE.
I only recently learned that gap year programs were a thing! I'm so jealous that this wasn't an option (at least not one that I knew of) when I graduated from high school.