So, I’ve been thinking about taking a gap year for a while. I don’t know if it is yet another quarter-life crisis (they just comes and goes as waves), or just me eagerly trying to gaspe something meaningful and real as I approach 30 (strictly speaking I’m one week away from my 30’s birthday), or just a dire attempt from me to step away what I’m doing right now and/or corporate America as a whole.
Taking a gap year is like skydiving. It’s cool on the resume, it’s cool when someone else do it, but when you’re the one on the plane, the only thought in your head is “holy sh*t what am I doing”. There is always a sliver of chance that you might not survive this. And it is at this moment that thought speaks the loudest.
Breath in, breath out. Think why you’re here. So this is me listing out the reasons why I’m here on this plane.
First of all, I want to spend time with my parents. I have not been on their side ever since I went to elementary school. Always somewhere else, 2 hours or 2 days of drive away, doing school, doing internships, doing life. And now 20 something years later, I feel like I finally have the chance to go back to where I come from.
Second of all, I want to spend time with my grandma. Because last time I left her to come back to the U.S., she said she doesn’t know how many times she’ll be able to see me.
That’s it.
After running some meticulously-calculated AI-supported estimation on the impact this gap year would have on our FIRE plan, I learned this plan will delays FIRE by about 1-2 years. Exchanging 1-2 years in my 40s/50s to a year in my 30s to spend time with family. So is it worth it to take the dive?