Why everyone should take a gap year

About 4 months ago I made a very last minute decision to take a gap year. My original plan (which I was never truly passionate about) was to get my grades and study Business Management at Cardiff University. It was simple. It was normal. It was safe.

I found as I went through my last year of school my motivation dropping, I was completely uninterested in school, when the opportunity presented it self for me not to be there I wasn't. The last few months I was probably in school for 3 days a week.

In the months between the end of exams and results day, I went through waves of emotions, I was so scared to not do the straight forward thing and go and get my 'safe' degree.
I was bombarded with everyone else's opinions. 'But you can always give it ago and leave after the first year', 'you'll have plenty of time when you finish uni', 'but if you don't go, you might never go'. They confused me and made me think that their opinions where my own, of course they did not intend this and are just trying to look out for my best interest, but in the process I lost my own thoughts and rationality. In the end I just took a leap of faith. I deferred my entry to Swansea University (I didn't get into Cardiff due to my lack of motivation in my last year in school) and I jumped into the unknown. My only plan being 'I need to travel this year'.
I became more motivated as I was able to focus on what I need to achieve to make this experience worth while.

I did work experience as a Marketing Assistant for a few months along side my weekend job as a waitress. This job didn't inspire me, working in an office was not my thing but thanks to my gap year I found this out before I finished a degree which could have inevitably landed me in an office job. I am grateful for this experience.
This work experience lead to me gaining a full time job through recommendation as a PA for a Financial Advisor. I knew this was not something that would inspire me greatly as I has already learned, however, it paid well and I am so focused on saving to send me on my travels next year.
So here I am now I work 6 days a week, 5 in an office and 1 day as a waitress, I save my money and most of my friends are in university. Its scary, it is sometimes lonely but it has taught me so much about myself, what I want and what I don't want.

I have learned about how important it is to stay in contact with those you love, I have learned that a lot of people are blind to the fakeness of 'reality', I have learned how to forgive people and be happy for those who hurt you or leave our lives, I have learned how important it is to take responsibility for your own actions and to learn from those mistakes. I have learned that what is right for me may not be right for another person and the need to accept peoples differences.
I have learned about who I am as a person, I am an environmentalist, I am a very empathetic person, I am obsessed with the idea of freedom, I don't want much money and I want to change the world.
But the most important thing I have learned is to MAKE MISTAKES. They make you grow as a person, the show you what you want and what you don't want, don't ever regret your mistakes (unless, you know, you've killed someone or something) learn from them.

So the truth is, I still don't know what I am doing. I don't think I ever will. Maybe I will be in university next year, we will see where my mistakes take me! But for now I am planning, preparing and enjoying the small moments with people I love.

Peace

Careers

Whenever someone asks me what I want to do my first answer is Travel. They then correct me and say what job I want to do and I honestly have no idea. I go to University next year to study Business Marketing but the truth is I hate materialism and corporatism. I don't really know if I want to go to university but the truth is I don't really have any other direction to go in. When I describe my dream job to someone it is to travel while saving animals and helping people. I have no idea if this job exists. I will never be able to become a vet as most people bring up in this situation because 1. I squirm in biology if my teacher just mentions the heart, and 2. I could never be the person who euthanizes an animal. I just couldn't do that. I want to build sanctuaries, stop poaching. I want to conserve and protect animals.

Since I was young what I wanted to be has evolved and changed. My earliest memory was to be the next Steve Irwin like most young animal lovers. I then grew up and realised I am not really very fond of zoo's. The next thing I remember was to do competitive horse riding and to teach horse riding and then I realised I am not very competitive. I then wanted to be a make up artist or designer and although I would still love to do these things I feel like I need to do something more meaningful. Now I am in this situation. I just know I've wanted to work with animals from a young age. I think what I need to remember is the people who know what they want to do with there career are very lucky people. The majority of us have no idea.

Schools are very good at putting pressure on you to decide what to do with your entire life. At the small age of 13/14 your are expected to know the direction you want to go in and that is so unrealistic. Then when you go to sixth form you are expected to go to university. I know less then a handful of people that are not going but they are still forced to sit through university lectures and student finance lectures like they are trying to make them feel bad about not going to university and that's bullshit. We shouldn't feel like we need to know what we want to do from when we're 14 years old. We grow and change. Situations change and what we want changes. I guess we just need to say fuck you to what the education system tells us and just do what we feel is right for us.

I really had no idea where this post was going. Good job I didn't want to be a journalist or a writer.

Wanderlust

The universe is so vast and that is an understatement. The fact that there are billions of stars out there with billions of planets surrounding them across thousands and thousands of galaxies completely boggles my mind. It is so incredible. Now I am no genius, my physics knowledge is limited so there is no way I will ever become an astronaut and be able to see first hand something other than our own little planet. I am also not rich enough to climb aboard one of Richard Branson's aircraft's and take a space holiday. This is what kind of inspired me to want to see everything. Yes, everything! I guess you can say my motto is 'if I can't see the universe I at least what to see the world'.

There are so many amazing places out there with amazing people with amazing stories to tell. I want to see the Northern Lights, I want to take a road trip across North America, dance in Rio, surf in Hawaii (by that I mean attempt to surf) and see the wild animals in Africa.

But this adventure I want to go on is a lonely one. Its hard to find a person who wants to go with you because they have their own dreams in life. I have recently discovered how much I may need to sacrifice for this dream, relationships, career, education. But its something I desperately dream of doing and although it sounds cheesy I don't think anyone should let anybody or anything get in the way of what they truly want to do.