12 Reasons Why You Should Take a Gap Year to Travel

There is no substitute for self-discovery and there’s never a better time for it than now. And what is self-discovery? It is the realization of your place in this world and a deep appreciation of its implications. A so-called gap year is a road to discovering your true potential and locating your own milestones.

Often ‘real-life’, with all of its perks and liabilities, gets in your way of becoming the best version of yourself. Regardless of where you are in your career, take a break for some space to reconnect with your aspirations. Here’s 10 reasons why you should take a year off from your everyday life to travel.

1. You don’t have to be rich or privileged. All you need is conviction.

2. Gap-Year isn’t for everyone? Is living your life weekend-to-weekend, working long-hours 5 days a week, with people who don’t really get you, for everyone?

3. You think you’ve come a long way in your life and career, till you meet someone just like you, who’s been everywhere on your YOLO list.

4. Because you have a YOLO list. And perfect conditions are a myth.

5. And you don’t really want to end up like your boss. Or your parents. Why are you doing the same things they did?

6. Because climate change is more than melting ice-caps and stranded polar bears. The world outside your living room is a complex algorithm of human errors. Don’t rely on mass-media to explain it to you.

7. And before you devote the rest of your life to the global labor supply, you need to witness the reality of globalization, and the absurdity of development.

8. Because traveling is often cheaper than the indulgences of city-life.

Rent alone is a huge saving. Then there is the car, furniture and bills; nights-out and social obligations; gadgets, suits, jewelry and other expensive distractions. ‘Real-life’ ain’t cheap!

9. Because you can make your Gap-year count.

Volunteering, solo travel, fluency in a foreign language and culture, travelogues and photo-blogs, massage and craft courses and a network of friends from around the world; they’ll all look amazing on your CV.

10. Because when you return, you will find everything exactly where you left it. When it’s time to start over, it will be like riding a bicycle.

11. Because you’ll learn to live with less. You’ll consume less, spend less, complain less and travel more.

12. Because you’ve always wanted to live your life free and adventurous. Do you think it’s too early or too late?

Take your time, but start envisioning a different kind of life; one in which you create your own existential paradigm and define your own expectations. Take a gap year. Nobody ever regrets it, and you wont either