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In Defense of the “Adult Gap Year”
A new name for a life-changing habit.
When I entered my mid-thirties, about a decade ago, I noticed a trend bubbling up amongst many of my friends. It seemed there was a growing crew of us, especially single, childless women (though not exclusively) leaving the careers we’d worked hard to establish and taking extended periods of time off to pursue something entirely different. None of us had enough money to retire completely, but we had enough money to float ourselves for a few months at a time, sometimes even a year, and—after being heads-down, climbing ladders and proving ourselves in a brutally capitalist system—we wanted to explore.
Apparently, taking long chunks of time off from work has now become a trend amongst 20-somethings on TikTok. And it has a name: the “Adult Gap Year” is the practice of taking significant breaks from your career early on (not necessarily a full year), and structuring a life where you’re not working straight through until retirement.
The people I know who have taken these breaks started in their thirties, myself included, once we were on somewhat-stable financial and professional ground. But regardless of the exact age, I’m thrilled to see this concept encouraged on a broader cultural scale (even if all my pitches on it were rejected years ago!) because I regularly want to shout…
