I was conflicted about taking a gap year after high school. Part of me loved the idea of taking a year-long holiday to backpack around Europe eating gelato and working in the UK. Unfortunately, the gap year of my dream was a terribly expensive fantasy that I, like most 17 year olds could not afford. Instead I went to college and took the classes I was told to take and studied hard. After a year, I had a bit of a breakdown — what was I studying? Why was I studying it? Why didn’t I have a plan for the future like the other kids? I took a gap year. My gap year though, wasn’t spent on vacation or finding myself but rather on getting the highest paying union job I could find. That job which started at $11.73/hr, eventually paid me almost $16 an hour when I quit 5 years later. That money and the relatively flexible schedule and huge opportunities for overtime is what paid for my college and my university and my two trips to Europe. It was why I graduated university with $40,000 in the bank and was what motivated me to never, ever be a “lifer” at a job. […]
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