In 2020, many college-age kids decided to take a gap year, given that Zoom classes and social isolation are not exactly the experience sold in the brochure.
It’s traditionally been a perk of the privileged. Or an excuse for those who didn’t quite have their act together immediately after high school.
I definitely could have benefited from taking a year off between high school and university. But given that I was the first person in my family to go to college, I didn’t even consider it — I was just grateful my parents could send me at all.
I did, however, take a gap year at age 51. My family and I took a trip around the world that changed us all for the better.
Talk about privilege, right?
And yet, midlife gap years are becoming more common. And like me, you might just come out of one more prosperous than before you left, in more ways than you can imagine.
The Case for Taking a Midlife Gap Year
Stealth Health
My fitness in 2020 started out super strong, maintained during the early months of the pandemic, and then fell apart over the summer. I’m back at it, and if you’re looking for inspiration to do the same, perhaps these four stories will help.
‘I Got a Whole New Mindset’: The Health Secrets of People Who Got Much Fitter in Lockdown
Knee to Know Basis
About a year ago, a Further reader sent me some research that debunked my belief that running is bad for your knees. This recent NYT article tells you the same.
Why Running Won’t Ruin Your Knees
Not OK Boomer
This article is disturbingly informative, and may help us better understand the generation that precedes us. But this is important to understand as well: The cognitive decline and lower impulse control that makes one vulnerable to misinformation “generally begin to appear around age 45, but recent research indicates that they could be appearing even sooner.” Work that brain, people.
What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers’ Brains?
This is Your Mission …
… and you must choose to accept it. You must continue to learn to be cognitively and economically viable. It gets harder as you get older, and that’s why you must make it a priority to not let your age hold you back.
Study Helps Explain Why Motivation to Learn Declines With Age
Keep going-
further: flashback
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Grace, 1994
Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah was released as a single in 2007, 10 years after his untimely death. The song was written by Leonard Cohen, who died four days after the 2016 US election. The lyrics have been endlessly analyzed and debated in terms of meaning, but I think you know what it means today. (YouTube)
further: sharing
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