 I have nothing to do for the rest of the year. What am I gonna do? Having that thought presented in front of you is enough to get your wheels turning. Hello everybody and welcome back to my channel. My name is Katie. If you're brand new here and I like to talk about study abroad and gap years, so if that interests you, you should subscribe because that would be nice and I know actually I can't offer you anything. That's it. That would be nice for me. So purely selfish. So today we're going to be talking about nine reasons to take a gap year that like you may not have thought about because if you know anything about my story, which you can go watch my other videos like sort of hear more about that, but I had a pretty unorthodox gap year because it was during the pandemic and I took it right in the middle of college, which is not usually the norm. So this video is really for anybody who is maybe feeling a little lost, maybe you're pre-college, maybe you are in the middle of it and you're just like I have no idea what I want to do. And I am just here to provide some context of as just a person because being young is really complicated and there are so many things to think about and work through and sometimes college is not the answer. Sometimes it is the answer. Sometimes taking a gap year can really honestly prepare you for college in a really much better way. So we're just going to talk about nine things that you can do on your gap year that aren't just like traveling except we are going to talk about traveling at one point because like traveling cool. I like traveling. Okay so number one is going to be figure out your hobbies. So I feel like this is a thing that is like not really talked about a lot because you think in college you're gonna have all this free time and when I got to college a lot of my hobbies from high school just kind of fell to the wayside because like I was really into the arts in high school. Like I did a lot of musicals and I did choir and I just genuinely didn't have time for that in college. When I got here I was working really hard at school and I was just trying to make friends and like figure out my life and I got a job and I just didn't have time to even think about like joining a musical or doing anything like that. So I did join a choir and that was really that was really odd. So I did have time for that but that was really weird. So sometimes you have those experiences. But when I took my gap year I finally had time to sit and think about my life as a whole and what made me really happy in life and I realized that not having a creative outlet was really kind of bumming me out. So I started a YouTube channel. That was just a really exciting time for me because I finally got to have an outlet where I could express myself in that way that I was missing from high school and like sort of bring that side of my personality into my adult life and I think that's a really underrated thing that you can do when a gap year. This could be like maybe you really think you'd like reading but you don't have time to read other books. So you just like don't do it. I read so many books on my gap year and when I studied abroad because I finally had time and that's just kind of that's just real. And then even like trying a sport like maybe you were really into sports when you were in you know in high school and sometimes doing that in college is not really feasible but you know when you have time to like really work on something it's much easier to bring it into your life when it's already established as a priority. Okay so number two is going to be learning new skill. Learning new skills is really hard. Okay I remember I got to college and the thought I wanted to like be a gym girly right? I was like this is good for my health. I want to like go for my mental health and like my actual health and just like get out there. But being perceived at the gym made me want to die. So like I never went to any fitness classes for like my first two years of college. I would just like go to the treadmill and like hide. And so on my gap year I finally had time to sort of figure out what I actually liked doing in the gym and I feel like it's a really underrated experience. Learning how to do squats or like uncomfortable workout things in the comfort of your own home. Just like in your own time because doing a squat in front of other human beings. That is a really that's a that's a mind wrap around for a lot of us. Like that is something that I don't think a lot of us would like to do. But getting over that hump can really like it can really unlock a new understanding of your own body and like getting comfortable in those movements to like keep going. That's just like one thing though. I mean you could learn how to cook in your gap year. You could learn like just life skills. If you've never learned how to do your laundry learn how to do your laundry before you go to college or I don't know just stuff like that. But also another thing you could do is you could get some certifications. So you could get CPR certified because sometimes that's required for jobs. You could get like scoop. You could be a scuba diving instructor. I had a friend who did that and that took a little bit for her to do it. She did it in the summer but you could do it on your gap year. On my gap year I learned the adobe creative suite. So that's the thing on my resume now is I know how to use Photoshop and Premiere Pro in adobe which is honestly a pretty big skill set to have going into my job career path and that took forever for me to learn and I don't think it's something that I could have taken on while going to school. Number three is going to be taking internships. So obviously before is if this if you're taking a gap year before you go to college and you just have literally no idea what you want to do with your life. Taking a bunch of internships can be a really great way for you to maybe figure out what you do and don't like because a lot of internships are not paid which is really terrible. So if you are living at home and you have that support system maybe take that time to do a bunch of internships because you can because you're still living at home and just to sort of feel out what sort of field you may even be interested in and number four is going to be get a job. That is a really underrated way to spend a gap year because I feel like most gap years are oh you know travel and like do all these cool things. Saving money for college if that's what you want to do is such a big thing. If you want to like apply for a bunch of scholarships or apply for a school that you really want to go to but maybe you don't have all the things that you feel like you need take some time off and like really prepare yourself. You know start saving money on the side that can be a really great way for you to feel prepared going into college. Maybe if you have a really stressful semester and you can't take on an extra job you know maybe you have a little bit of like a safety net that you built in during your gap year and then number five is going to be spend time working on yourself. So I um I think we all have the experience in your 20s when you're like 20 to 25 like stuff can emerge. Figuring out coping skills with your mental health is a really underrated way to spend a gap year because going to therapy I know from personal experience can. For me it was a really good experience but it was also a very draining experience. It's like very sort of like emotionally draining. Spending some time working on yourself in that way to like build up your coping skills for life. I mean just whatever for no just yeah building up your coping skills for life and is such an underrated thing that you can do with your time because when you get to college like it can really deteriorate your mental health. The stress levels that you feel in college are through the roof and learning how to manage stress is such an underrated skill. Like it is it is you're gonna have to figure out how to do that for the rest of your life so why not do it on your gap year. Also learning how to just like eat enough and sleep enough I think especially for us girlies you know we do live in an age of body positivity but I know that a lot of people still struggle with like feeling like their body is wrong and really growing to be comfortable in your body and realizing that food is your friend for you to be able to succeed in your daily life is really really important um and I think sometimes like having a little bit of a break and being able to focus on just your physical health and understanding your body is a really underrated thing that you can do for yourself as well. Number six is going to be travel. I think traveling is really cool and I partnered with world packers a while ago and I did a video with them where I went to the Scottish Highlands and I worked in a hotel and I was literally scrubbing toilets and just hanging around this little town but it built so much character having that experience just meeting different people and realizing that life is just so different other places and it just it makes your own problems feel small because you can just compare culture and figure out that the things that maybe you are feeling judged about aren't things that are worth your worry it's just just things like that it's just and also just working really hard like you know that's not a glamorous job to do is scrubbing toilets so I think that can be a really good experience for people just like helping out and like being a part of a team that you are just trying to like cohabitate with other people it's a very it's a very humbling experience. Number seven is going to be don't waste your time so I know that on my other videos where I talk about gap year I talk about how it's a really good time to waste your time and what I mean by that is I think experience leads us forward so having the experience of I have nothing to do for the rest of the year what am I going to do that having that thought presented in front of you is enough to get your wheels turning in ways that you have never felt before I I know a lot of people experiences in post grad and I've had a lot of friends who are sort of going through that now because a lot of my friends graduated last year when I was supposed to having that like just finally a time where everything is open in front of you can be really hard to face if you've never had to do that before and having a gap year is like sort of this controlled bit of time where you for a whole entire year have to figure out what to do without the structure of school and it is such a big wake-up call the way that I can explain it don't waste your time obviously don't just like do nothing on your gap year like take time to sit with that feeling figure out what you want to do and if you can't figure out what you want to do just pick something and just have experiences do do just volunteer work or get a job or take a class just it can be anything get an internship really simple but having little things to do that can maybe point you in the direction of your future or you do something you're like oh I hate that I'm going to do this instead is so is so underrated it's it is so important because life is really hard and it's really hard to figure out what you want to do college is really expensive so what if you do spend four years studying something that you know you have now had experience being like I don't actually like that for my quality of life or whatever it is and then number eight is going to be do things outside of your comfort zone on my study abroad like gap year I had the experience of saying yes to probably too many things I think that we live in a culture sometimes where it's all about like the media we consume is about like protecting your energy and like protecting your time and first of all I completely agree with that like do not get me wrong I am the first person to like not engage with somebody when I'm like okay that's gonna be that however I think that there is something to be said with learning how to say yes to things because I think sometimes that like protecting your energy thing can go way too far and learning how to spend your energy and on new experiences and trying to get to know other people that may be different than you is a really important part of growing up because when you go into your prospective job field you're gonna have to work with all sorts of people and it really helps you figure out who you are yourself so that when you go into school or you go into a job you can really articulate what it is that you have to offer other people and what you can realize what other people can offer you if that makes any sense and then number nine is going to be start a passive income project so I put this one last because last because it's like oh capitalism like you know um but I on my gap on my gap year I started this youtube channel and I didn't make a single dime that whole entire year the second year though I started making money and then this year which is my third year on youtube I took a break for about like five months this year I took like two months off in the summer and then I took about three months off when I was applying to grad school and during those times I was still making money actively which was so incredibly nice it creates a sense of pride because like I'm really kind of proud of myself that I did that and I didn't do work not a single bit of work for three whole months but I was still you know collecting a check pretty much and that was a really exciting thing for me this money that just like like this sort of like little little thing for me to it's little but it's mine and like I did that and it's really cool and I can do whatever I want with that money I can save it I can put it in retirement you know whatever I want to do and yeah I think that that's a really you can do something like that maybe start a blog I don't even there's so many options nowadays I if you have experience taking a gap year and you're like oh I did this thing or I did this thing please leave it in the comments down below I I love like fostering conversations down there between you guys because I'm just one person you know just like talking to a camera and my if you have experience to offer please leave it down below and if you like this video give it a like and subscribe because I post new videos every Friday I just I really I advocate for taking a gap year so much because I just feel like it's set me up for just it set me on a completely different trajectory than I was already on in my life and not a different trajectory but like I just it just gave me so much time to figure myself out and I think that that's really important when you're young so yeah thank you guys so much for watching and I hope you have a great day