What a Gap Year Offers

Hello my fellow Hivians, happy weekend and I do hope we all are having a great day? It's another day for us to explore this topic together, write, read and learn. I must say having engaged in some articles on this prompt, I have learned great lessons and relatable experiences. A gap year, year of growth or procrastination?

In our today's world as a typical Nigerian, we can't do without a gap year in our lives, be it as a secondary school fresh graduate or an average Nigerian life is showing seven wonders. While some take this break willingly, to others it happens unavoidably.

Let me break my point, while this is a supposed break one can take to do something meaningful instead of furthering his or her education immediately or resuming another work after a particular chapter closes. In our society, most times it is people that don't even want this gap year that end up getting it.

Imagine a very ready student who had written the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB ) exam hoping to secure admission into the university but ended up not getting admitted because of one reason or the other. In a situation like that, our African parents most times call it God's plan but most times convincing such a person to see that year as an opportunity to learn something new would be their parents'choice although not in all cases.

A gap year can either be an opportunity for growth and also for procrastination based on individual choices. I have had years in my life I wasted which I was supposed to learn new things and grow.

I have two friends, the year we all planned to gain admission into a tertiary institution and it failed. While one of my friends then was about to figure out what he truly wanted to do with his life, he was applying for MBBS that year, immediately admission closed without us being admitted, he quickly paid one of the top pharmacies in town and started learning from there.

I can't say I know what he learnt but he graduated after a year, wrote JAMB again and made it, continued working in the pharmacy and this time around he was being paid as a staff. That helped him grow to the level he is today, he graduated, owns his own pharmacy stores and he is still chasing his career path.

That year, Joy, my friend, never made use of our gap year. She was always talking about how she wanted to learn tailoring but never did. Although I didn't utilize mine by learning new skills, I was able to walk towards my future plans of getting admitted. I was able to do intensive preparation for the next year's examination which I passed and gained admission.

I know a guy who explained to his parents how he wanted to take a gap year and learn software design. He would leave the house everyday to his friend's house to play PS5. Before you know what next, he was already addicted and can't do without playing it. Instead of planning ahead on how to gain admission, he was more interested in how to buy a PS5.

Personally, it all depends on the individual and how each person decides to spend their gap year. I believe with setting goals, walking towards it by staying focused, self motivated, gap year would indeed be a great opportunity to make our society innovative and productive.

The above image is mine

Thanks 😊 dear friend for reading till the end. I appreciate you 🥰♥️.