The Young Professional's Guide to A Year Off
Helping young professionals plan a sabbatical, career break, or gap year to travel the world for a year.
How can you live life without regrets? Is it even possible? “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark…
Gap years are for college students. Sabbaticals are for college professors. Retirement is for those in their 50s and 60s. A Year Off is for young professionals. Your Year Off Age is the age you put your working life and career on temporary hold to hit the road and pursue whatever dreams you may have….
Let’s get a formal definition of Year Off in the books….. A Year Off is a finite period when a young professional steps away from his/her normal working life and career to live life as he/she pleases and to pursue whatever dreams he/she may have.
My Year Off story began in 2009 when I graduated from pharmacy school and began working as a pharmacist for a large chain pharmacy. I was 24 years old, and I had $35,000 of student loan debt.
My Year Off began in April 2016 with a 5 day drive from Cincinnati, Ohio to Lone Pine, California to climb the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. It ended on a plane home from Kenya in March 2017 after 3 months in Africa. I was 31 years old when I started my Year…