Gap Year

[CameronsExploring]

Im interested in taking a gap year after highschool to figure out what I want to do. I will be graduating this year and I started the Life Purpose course. I would like to use it to develop myself, explore, travel, figure out my life purpose, college or no college, and such. 

What advice do you guys have? How do I make the most of it?

[Carl-Richard]

Do anything. Just don't sit in your basement and smoke weed for a year

[Vision]

With how much time you'll have on your hands, this will be a huge opportunity to take courses, read a lot of books, and most importantly, experiment.

Remember not to waste your time doing things that have no return. Key word; no return.

There are things that may seem like a waste of time but aren't because they bring you closer to realizing who you are and what you want; experimentation.

Only you'll be able to really determine what is waste of time for you and what isn't. It depends on your values.

[Yarco]

Life purpose course can be completed in a week or so if you're serious about it and devote 3-4 hours a day. Listen to the bulk of the material at the start (core concepts) at 1.5x speed to get through it faster, but give proper time to the exercises.

Get the course out of the way first before you start planning to explore, travel, or anything else. Because if your life purpose isn't aligned with all the stuff you're doing, it might be a waste of time. If your top 10 values don't include at least 1 of adventure, nature, beauty, travel... then it'll have a negligible effect on finding your life purpose. Maybe the answer is to stay at home and work on your passion.

If you wanna travel because it's cool to see new places and eat new foods and have new experiences, that's one thing. But don't delude yourself into thinking that travel is an effective one-size-fits-all method of "finding yourself". You aren't out there, you're right where you are already.

Your life purpose isn't necessarily some mythical thing "out there" to be discovered. It's probably hiding in plain sight and has been popping up throughout your childhood and teen years off and on already in various ways. Looking within and backward might be more effective than looking out into the world and forward.

[bejapuskas]

One of the best self-development experiences while travelling was living with an Indian family. (while also travelling and eating out a bit, but living with the family was better for growth) I learnt so much about cultural relativity, gender, corruption, how they affect everyday life, very good experience overall. You might connect your travel with more specific activities for example if you are an artist, you might go to Indonesia and connect with one of their local theater companies to learn some of their cultural theater traditions. Don't just live somewhere, it's probably gonna be a waste of time.

[Michal__]

Definitely get at least a part time job.

Even if you want to read a lot of books / travel / meditation retreats / or do a lot of psychadelics you still have to have a source of income, doubt your parents will want to give you money for books & psychadelics.