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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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Name: Shin-hye Lee
Gap year period: 2012 ~ 2014 (total 21 months)
Current job: Working at a marketing company
Q.Please tell us what led you to take a gap year or how you prepared for it.
"And then, one day, suddenly"
In my childhood,dreamsI think I had something like dreams: ideas about how I'd live as an adult or what I wanted to become.
While in college,plansI had something called plans: that by thirty I would have established a certain foundation in life, and by forty I would prepare these things.
However, after graduating and entering the workforce—chased by reality—I think I lived having forgotten all my dreams and plans.
In January I would check the red days on the calendar, and even if a month felt like hell I would be happy on payday. I always wanted to leave, yet my body was stuck in front of the monitor; contrary to my imagination, even at thirty nothing was clear, and though I struggled with that I was dragged forward through life step by step.
Then suddenly, seeing my tired-looking boss in front of me, I was jolted by the thought that that would be my future. A future so predictable, a life without any excitement—I truly did not want to live like that.
So one day, suddenly, I did it—my gap year.
ⓒKorea Gapyear
Q.Please tell us about your gap year experience.
"My gap year began with a working holiday in Australia."
It was the quickest and easiest option I chose thinking that anywhere would be better than here. And I had so much fun during the year and a half I spent in Australia.I met friends of various nationalities and ages, went out onto the streets to try selling things for fun, and even planned a social project to 'sell happiness'. Meeting regularly with like-minded friends and brainstorming 'what fun thing shall we try next?', I began to dream again. Even when I was exhausted from part-time jobs and my legs felt like lead,my spirits were never heavy.
ⓒKorea Gapyear
As my working holiday was coming to an end, I developed a desire to study the Spanish I had been putting off. I wanted to communicate with more people and felt I should do what I could now. I also wanted to see the football I love up close in Brazil. So I did it again — I went for it!
"Spanish? My first South American city: Santiago, Chile."
My plan to study beforehand was only wishful thinking; I arrived in Santiago, Chile not even able to say a greeting, and everywhere I went I was the only Asian person. Of course there are Korean neighborhoods and many Chinese people in Chile, but in any case it felt unique—honestly, it was pretty great. In Santiago I met the family of a friend who was from there.
ⓒKorea Gapyear
My Spanish was at a crawling stage, and I shopped and ate with a friend's mother who could not speak a word of English, communicating with a jumble of gestures. On weekends we took buses to the outskirts of Santiago for sightseeing. In the Elqui Valley (Valle del Elqui), known as the center of the world, I went on an astronomy tour and looked up at stars that seemed about to pour down — I praised myself for coming to South America. One regret is that my Spanish didn't improve as much as I had hoped.
"And then I moved to Cusco, Peru"
Cusco is, in one word, amazing! A city you can't help but love.
The three weeks there passed in the blink of an eye. Classes at school were really enjoyable; I attended free salsa lessons every night, and on weekends I listened to music at a nearby bar. I cheered with the Dutch friends I lived with while watching the Spain vs. Netherlands World Cup match.
© Korea Gapyear
I also used weekends to travel to Bolivia's Uyuni Salt Flats and Machu Picchu. Friends you meet while traveling form deep connections in a different way.By chance I met many people who, like me, had quit their jobs and left; when I talked with those friends,that leaving everything behind is not reckless but rather a struggle to do one's best to understand oneself and to become happyI could empathize with that and gain courage.
© Korea Gapyear
Cusco, the city I miss. Surrounded by the sturdy ridges of the Andes, I would take deep breaths in the thin air while wandering through Cusco each day, taking in how the descendants of the Inca live. Those three weeks were far too short and left me longing for more.
© Korea Gapyear
Q.What has changed for you, or what have you gained, since taking a gap year?
"I became more at ease."
Why is that? I'm two years older than when I left, I don't have a proper job, I have no savings, and I'm far from the 'marriage and children' my grandmother always talks about. Yet I feel at ease. Because I...what I should do tobehappy이제는 조금 알 것 같기 때문이다. 그래서 그걸 그냥 하면 된다는 생각이 들기 때문이다.
ⓒKorea Gapyear
Before starting my gap year, I lived as if I were being chased by goals I had to reach before a certain age, but I was angry about everything because I didn't know what those goals were. I was anxious as the days went by.
But that's not the case now. I think I've learned how to look back at myself, meet various lives, converse, discover, be surprised, and listen to the voice inside me. I think I read something like that somewhere. They say that from birth we are beings who respond to others' reactions rather than choosing and acting on our own.
As a baby, if my parents smiled at me I behaved that way; as a student I studied to receive praise from others; but when you become an adult and suddenly are told to choose for yourself, you don't know what to do and end up wandering. Because we don't know how to live or how to become happy, and no one teaches us those things, we inevitably struggle. And that's natural.So I think we need to practice listening to our own voice. And I believe everyone is trying to overcome this in their own way.
What about me?I gave myself a 'gap year.' I want to say that my happiness level changed before and after the gap year. So I say this: buying a plane ticket in 2012 and handing in my resignation — the choice I made that day is the best decision I've made in my life so far.
ⓒKorea Gapyear
Q.Finally, what one thing would you like to say to young people planning a gap year?
When I was studying English, my teacher used to say: "Want to speak English well? Speak a lot. Want to read well? Read a lot. Want to write well? Write a lot." It seems there are no shortcuts or quick fixes in life. If you don't know what you want to do, try many things and choose the one you enjoy the most. Worried you'll grow old doing that? Isn't that better than saying, "I'm older and still don't know what would be fun"?
"Let's go for it. You have to go for it — only by doing so will you see what you should do next!"
I hope you take lots of chances during your gap year, and keep taking them — good luck!
