“So what are you doing after high school?”

The amount of times I’ve been asked this question is countless by now, and every single time I answer it, the conversation always turns into pity party. So many people have told me that I’m making the wrong decision, and seeing the pity in their eyes, their looks of confusion as they hesitate to come up with something nice to say—it can be a little bit heartbreaking.

But yes, I will be taking a gap year after high school and although this is my final decision, it took me a long time to actually come to terms with it.

I thought really long and hard about this decision, mapped out all the pros and cons, and it just seemed like the most logical route for me. However there was something stopping me from fully embracing this fate, and it was sadly the fear of judgement from other people.

I was so worried about everyone thinking that I was failure if I took a gap year. That if I didn’t go to a four-year college right after high school, it would be detrimental to my image and people would forever look down upon me. I was so scared about what other people would think and it just raided my thoughts until finally I took a step back and reevaluated my way of thinking.

Why should I care so much about what other people think? I know that this seems very simple, but it’s much easier to preach than practice.

I focused so much on trying to please everyone by following the acceptable status quo that I forgot to focus on what was best for me. You know, everyone tells you that taking a gap year will be a waste of time and that you’ll do absolutely nothing, but maybe I need that for like a year. Let me be a couch-potato and figure out what I want to do with my life before someone else decides for me.

So even if people stare at you wide-eyed, pass discouraging remarks or they just simply can’t understand what you are doing, you shouldn’t let that stop you. Whatever path you go down, whether you’re going into a four-year college, a community college, into the navy, or taking a gap year, it’s your decision and no one else’s.