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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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A leave of absence is a really important opportunity
My third year is ending, and I still...I didn't know what my future held and began to wonder if it was okay to graduate like this.Then it naturally led to the question: if I take a leave of absence, what should I do?
- Heeju Yoo, participant in an English language program in the UK
I, too, had many worries before leaving Korea. Taking two years off to find myself rather than to prepare for a job—my parents said, "Aren't you just going on a trip? Isn't that like a one-year-long vacation?" They even gave their own "advice," telling me to take a short trip during the break and hurry up and graduate. It was that single question.
- Yehee Kwon, participant in a special Nordic working holiday focused on learning about the world and protecting the environment
A leave of absence is a very, very important opportunity. Now, before fully entering society, what you will dois almost the only time when you can fully contemplate it.Here,'the almost only time when you can fully reflect' The reason I used that expression is simple. If you graduate from university and then worry about what to do next, can you fully consider it? Of course, in terms of time it might be possible.
But if, after graduation, you're not actually preparing for employment and are instead worrying about what to do, will the people around you leave you alone?
What are you doing? You should be preparing for a job quickly.
You're bound to hear remarks like this. Therefore,it means that taking a leave of absence during university, when psychological and social pressures are lower, allows you to focus fully on yourself when thinking about these matters.
Finding your dream? NO!You only need to find the value of your life.
The reason I originally wanted to start a gap year was that I no longer wanted to live a life without any goals.. A decision made as if to flee., The leave of absence, passing without any purpose, was as sweet as honey but seemed to be slowly rotting and eating away at my life.. The part-time job I continued because I had no alternatives took up most of my daily life as soon as I went on leave.. As my workload gradually increased, I stopped thinking and simply did the tasks placed before me without any goals..
I kept trying to find my goals because I felt I couldn't continue living this kind of leave-of-absence life any longer, but my worn-out body and mind made thinking difficult., I didn't even want to.. There was a time when I kept lying to my parents that I was doing well and had a plan, while I was actually living a dull, uninspired life., The manager at my workplace asked if I would consider working there as a full employee..
That snapped me back to my senses.. I wondered what I was continuing this life for..I thought, 'This isn't what I want to do,' and felt I couldn't stay like this..So, first I quit the part-time job I had been doing almost like a regular job..
Even after quitting, my exhaustion didn't recover easily..As I was idly passing the time, I came across a gap-year stay project..Suddenly.I applied with a vague hope that refreshing my environment might bring new ideas..Taking this opportunity to take a gap year,in a new environmentI wanted to reset my goals and gain momentum, since I still have a long way to go.
- Paris Gap Year Stay — Jeong Yujin
Usually, the things people worry about before entering society are mostly these kinds of concerns: 'What kind of work do I like?' 'What am I good at?' Of course, thinking about those and choosing what you want to do is really difficult and a big deal.
However, there is a question you should ask yourself before these kinds of questions.
What am I living for?
It's a question about life's goals or values.'What kind of work do I like?', 'What am I good at?' are the kinds ofIf those questions are temporary concerns before finding your first job after graduation,'What am I living for?' isa concern about my own life going forward.
A leave of absence is a good time to think about what values you will live by in the future, rather than just the big burdens ahead. Of course, these values may change as you live, but for at least 5 to 10 yearsthey will strengthen you and give you the power to take on challenges.
Because this may be one of the few times in life when you can fully reflect for yourself, I hope you use your leave of absence to think about your future life.
So how do you find your life's values?
At some point while rushing through life, a time comes when you start asking yourself questions.It's the moment you begin to seriously reflect for the first time in a life that was busy chasing others.That moment came to me too, and I felt I needed a real rest. So I took a leave of absence,Just hanging around at home wasn't real rest. That kind of break only led to mental lethargy.
I wanted to create a lot of time where I could focus solely on myself.As the saying goes, 'To meet myself in a strange place,' sometimes it's possible to objectively look back at yourself in an unfamiliar environment.Sometimes I had tried to create such times through travel, and I thought it might also be possible through a gap year.
Finding out what you're good at and what you're not may seem simple, but it's actually difficult. You also need time to pause and consider whether the path you're on is truly what you want.There aren't as many opportunities as you might think to fully reflect on yourself while living, so this opportunity felt very important.
- Paris Gap Year Stay, Go Young-gyeong
You might now be wondering, 'How do I find the value of my life?'To find the value of life, you must first properly get to know the person called 'me.'The reason is simple: your life's value comes out in ways that match your characteristics, personality, and tendencies — that's what makes it uniquely yours.
So I'll tell you how to know 'yourself.' To begin with the conclusion:
1. Time you can spend entirely by yourself.
2. An unfamiliar environment.
3. New experiences.
When these three conditions are met, an environment where you can reflect on 'yourself' can be created. First, the phrase 'time you can spend entirely by yourself' means time in which you have no burdens and can look back on yourself.
People inevitably receive a lot of influence from those around them, consciously or unconsciously. Because of that, we rarely spend time pondering 'ourselves' while living, and when we're curious about ourselves we often don't ask ourselves but ask friends, 'What kind of person am I?'
So this time,You should even discard the burden of having to look good to others and spend time purely confronting yourself.Not doing something like going to an English academy just because you feel like you should, without knowing why.You should prioritize setting aside time in which you can concentrate on yourself.
The second, an unfamiliar environment, refers to a setting that lets you discover sides of yourself you didn't know. For example, someone who is usually regarded as an outgoing person by those around them might find themselves unable to speak first to others in a place they've never been before and realize, 'Maybe I'm not an outgoing person but someone who wants to be seen as outgoing.'It becomes an opportunity for self-awareness.
Also, trying to have many thoughts you don't usually have while stuck in familiar surroundings is a risky approach.Even if you're thinking about yourself, when a friend contacts you that time becomes time for 'me and my friend,' not just 'me.'
Finally, the third, new experiences can be an opportunity to organize your thoughts and broaden your thinking.This connects to the saying that you think as much as you know or have experienced. If the breadth of your thinking is 100, you'll organize and find your value within that 100; if the breadth is 200, you can think 100 more than when it was 100.
That's why we should take a gap year.
The Gap Year Stay project is over, but my gap year isn't over yet..The gap year project didn't dramatically change my life..However I think it provided enough motivation to know what I want and which direction to take..
AlsoThere are so many different people in the world, and although the time was short, I encountered various professions, being able to meet people with various personalities A differentexperience. My personality, It gave me an opportunity to reflect on my habits once again.Through this opportunityUnlike before, when I struggled with interpersonal relationships, I feel I have become more composed..
Previously, I found it bothersome to form relationships with others. It was partly due to the hard part-time jobs, and when I took time off, I spent it only sleeping. But through this gap year, I realized that becoming close to people is not difficult.Of course, I realized once again that I couldn't form deep relationships, but that became another task I had to solve..
If you want to change yourself greatly, go and try anything..I think that the more intensely you face challenges, the more you'll learn about yourself and what those challenges are..'If you do nothing, nothing will happen.' is the life principle I gained from participating in this project..
Now, based on what I gained from the gap year project, I'm trying to figure out which direction to take..
- Jung Yujin, Paris Gap Year Stay participant
Therefore we should take a gap year. Through a gap year, I hope you come to know yourself, discover the values of your life, and gain the direction, confidence, and steadfastness to live your own life.
A gap year will be a valuable time to find the path that suits you.
