Welcome to The Gap Year Project! I’m Erec, and I am currently on a breathtaking volunteering adventure around the world. It has been such an exceptional journey because I am following two dreams:
to extend my education by traveling outside the United States and to make a substantial contribution in countries where people have not had the same educational and employment opportunities that I have had.
Here’s the best part: I’ve learned that you can follow your dreams, too.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What might happen if you dedicated a significant amount of time to following your dreams or contributing to a project that you think is important? What benefits might you accrue, and what value might you create?
My guess is that the answers to those questions will be compelling. You’re a capable person, and if you are currently applying yourself to the things that you believe are important, I’d bet that you are currently achieving fantastic results. If not, I’m here to tell you that you could be.
The Gap Year Project
I recently graduated from UC-Berkeley, where I received a great education and was fortunate enough to be exposed to a world of possibilities. When I graduated, though, I didn’t go and get a job or apply for grad school. Instead, I knew that I wanted to do something remarkable.
Let me be clear, it’s not that getting a job or going to grad school is necessarily unremarkable. My college roommate is going to medical school and I am certain that he is going to be remarkable, but that’s because he is living his dream rather than just taking the next step down a path that has been prescribed to him by someone else. For me, a job would have been the next step down someone else’s path.
My remarkable project is traveling around the world and making a contribution to people that have not had the same educational and employment opportunities as I have. That might sound nice, but that’s not the primary reason that it is remarkable. It’s remarkable because I have dedicated significant time to throwing myself into something that I am passionate about.
A gap year is traditionally a break between high school and college, but why should it be limited to teenagers? With the pace of life these days, there are abundant opportunities for constructive gap periods. Transitions between high school, college, further secondary education, jobs, and even career paths offer opportunities to go live a dream or pursue a passion. I’ve already met several corporate employees who have taken significant time off or even quit their jobs to volunteer for meaningful projects. A gap year can come at any point in your life.
And if you really can’t take a year off right now? Doing something remarkable is about finding a project that is important to you and throwing yourself into it with passion and purpose, and you don’t have to take a year off to do that. I love the concept of a gap year because the potential of what can be accomplished in a year is enormous, but you can just as easily dedicate time to something you find important without quitting your job.
After we reach a certain age we are not often told that we can accomplish our dreams. I don’t know exactly why that is, but here’s the important part: you can accomplish your dreams. There are people depending on you to pursue your dreams, and there are also people just waiting for a chance to help you do so.
Where to Begin?
For more about my trip, you can start with the About Page, FAQ Page, and “Where In the World Did This Crazy Idea Come From?”. I will also be writing regularly to share everything I learn about traveling, volunteering, and following your dreams. If you’d like to follow this project, I encourage you to sign up for email updates in the sidebar as well.
After that, all you have to do is start thinking about what you are passionate about and how you can dedicate yourself to doing something remarkable!