I never had a gap year between high school and college.
I’m always envious of the college kids that did take them. Back in my day… God, I sound old… we went straight from high school to college to work. No gap years in the middle of it all. If you did take some time off, it meant you couldn’t find a job.
Well, it looks like I finally got my gap year. 2020. It wasn’t planned. But everything seems to be on pause right now.
School. Sports. Movies. Work. All of it just seems to have stopped for now. No one wants to do anything because no one knows what’s around the corner.
It’s not just me. I feel like everybody is on hold right now. We had big plans for 2020. It turns out 2020 had big plans for us, too.
I’m reading a new book. “Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at any Age.” Author Bruce Feiler mixes personal stories with scientific research to talk about the upheavals we all have in our lives—he calls the big ones “Lifequakes.” It’s a fascinating book. I’m deep in it.
Feiler recently wrote a nice synopsis of the book in The New York Times titled “Feeling Stuck: Five Tips for Managing Life Transitions.”
In it he describes “the wolf in the fairy tail.” The concept that monsters show up to disrupt our lives. He also talks about how we can become the hero of our story.
I think the book is particularly timely. We all go through transitions and changes. We all go through Lifequakes. This year, we all seem to be going through one together. A collective Lifequake. A very big wolf in our fairy tail.
How we get through all of this is still up in the air. Some of us will thrive. Others won’t.
If “Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at any Age” is any indication, most of us will find a way out. We will be changed. Our old jobs may not be there. Our health may be different. Our relationships may suffer.
But… we will come through this.
The other side may not look like what we expected, but there is an “other side.” We will beat back the wolf.
So, I’m in the middle of my gap year. 2020. Unplanned, but I’m in it. Slaying dragons. Beating back the wolf. But… I’m getting through it.
And… I’m looking ahead to 2021. Now that is gonna be my year!