Today marks the first day of an epic journey. I’m here at the YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park, CO. In our first official meeting, we all sat in a circle and created a space for all of us. It was a safe space for everyone to say why they were here in Winterline. We had this inflatable globe we called the “talking stick” and when someone had it, it was their time to speak. Everyone felt safe and confident about sharing their stories and reasons of why they are doing this gap year program. It was interesting to hear the different stories that people said and I felt honored that they were able to share that with us. I was the last student to share my thoughts. When the ball reached my hands, I knew I had to say something but didn’t exactly know what to say. I just had to say why I was there. I thought I knew why, but I guess I didn’t.
I said that I wanted to travel and learn different things. That I wanted to take some time before college because I knew college was not right for me at this very moment, one reason being I don’t know what I want to study. All of this is true but as I thought more about it, I realized that I’m also taking this gap year to find myself and get to know me better, to discover new things about me that I cannot learn in a classroom. After closing that space, I felt happy and excited about doing this gap year and going on Winterline. I felt like I belonged there. I felt that Winterline was the right thing for me to do at this very moment. I'm so worn out of school but I still want to learn so much that I'm certain this is the way to do it. Going out and traveling the world is a great way of learning about myself and the world around me. I feel like I really need this gap year right now and I'm super excited and grateful that I get to go. College is not going anywhere, it can wait.
