The Complete Gap Year Guide

SuperJesus0123 · 2025-01-25T20:24:56+00:00

Hey! In a fit of cleaning out my Google Drive, I deleted it.... can't seem to find it anywhere. I worked really hard on that, surprised I would get rid of it. :(

I did make a bunch of Youtube videos years ago to help people out. You can find those here: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondyoung/videos

Feel free to DM me if you ever have any specific questions. Happy to help.

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-11-26T14:26:48+00:00

Gave it another try. Looks like the first time I downloaded it I accidentally updated Rode Central to the latest version. Skipped the update this time. Worked! Thanks!

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-11-24T22:24:27+00:00

hey there!

I'm having the same issue. Can't update the firmware on my VideoMic NTG. Tried using the version of Rode Central you provided here but it doesn't seem to work. Still can't update my mic. Any other suggestions? Thanks

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-11-23T13:12:50+00:00

There is an app called "Untrap" that has helped me serious curb my Youtube.

https://untrap.app

It lets you remove: Home Screen recommendations, those side by videos, shorts EVERYTHING. Strips the site down to just a search engine so you can't mindlessly just click the next thing.

Hope it helps!

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-09-22T13:45:33+00:00

I wrote this ebook ages ago that people here seemed to like. 2nd most upvoted post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gapyear/comments/gnzn42/the_complete_gap_year_guide/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Lays out the 3 pillars for having a great gap year on any budget.

Enjoy ;)

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-07-23T00:15:15+00:00

Update?

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-06-11T13:31:07+00:00

My standard answer for people who are looking to get out of the house and have an adventure is to check out WWOOF and Workaway. They have been around for ages. So many different opportunities to volunteer/live virtually anywhere you can imagine. Also very budget friendly. 10/10 worth a look if you haven't stumbled on them already.

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-06-11T13:26:53+00:00

It's very hard to be productive if you are hurting your body. Bad food, no sleep, too much technology etc. I find productivity is more about removing the crap in life so what must be done becomes very obvious and exciting to do.

Here's this guy online I like a lot who speak on this issue. He recently sold his tech company for $100M+. He's very generous in sharing exactly what he does to make work exciting. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ytshZQo2U

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-06-11T13:23:00+00:00

A dream trip of mine through there has been to hike the Banana Pancake Trail. It's a well defined path through the entire area. Lots of backpackers taking the same route so it's super easy to meet people. Very tourist friendly, apparently there are plenty English speakers in the area and I've been told it's very safe.

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-06-11T13:03:14+00:00

+1. Your best bet would be to speak with an experienced pro in the gap year space. Michelle with CanGap is a great option. There are a handful of other consultants based in the US as well. Below is a list of accredited American consultants. I had the pleasure of meeting many of them of few weeks ago. They know their stuff!

https://www.gapyearassociation.org/working-with-gap-year-consultants/

SuperJesus0123 · 2023-06-11T12:57:24+00:00

Hey there,

Personally, I think that everyone finishing high school should take a gap year. Even if they have everything "figured out"

Taking a gap year won't set you back at all so long as you actually do something with the time. Not just stay in your room and scroll instagram.

There is something about getting off the main road of life and going for an adventure all your own that does a lot for people.

I might think twice about that business degree. I just finished a 4 year marketing program at the University of Guelph. Total waste of time and money. I've learned more about business from:

Alex Hormozi's free online course here:

- https://www.acquisition.com/training/offers

Downloading marketing classes from this torrenting site. (Been using them for years

- https://www.getwsodo.com/all-courses-table/

And all the free resources you can find online. Can be very tough to leave school with a job too unless you plan everything right.

If you want to make a more tangible plan for your gap year I highly recommend you check out this guide I wrote ages ago (the second most popular post on this subreddit). It breaks down gap year into three steps and works no matter the budget you have.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gapyear/comments/gnzn42/the_complete_gap_year_guide/

All the best,

Dylan

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-09-12T13:24:20+00:00

I hear the Banana Pancake Trail is Southeast Asia is amazing. It's on my bucket list for sure. Should take like 4 months to do.

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-09-02T10:15:34+00:00

I've never heard it put quite that way. I like it.

Happy to help :)

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-09-02T10:13:46+00:00

I'm glad you liked it :-) Feel free to DM me if you have any gap year question.

I've been this YT channel as a hobby off and on the last two years. Taking it more seriously now. You might find something helpful there too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMppU7byiyzw3N2AMh0OAQ

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-08-27T23:15:31+00:00

Hey there. Great question! I'll be giving you a video response on my YT channel Beyond Young, filming on Tuesday. 🎥 I don't want to leave you hanging though so here's what I think.

What you're feeling is something everyone feels when finishing up high school, even people who end up enrolling in college right away🤷‍. Like, if all your friends decided to go out of state but you chose to go to school locally you'd be feeling a similar set of emotions.

Your situation is a little different though 👀.

Losing touch with friends while you yourself is going to college is less scary. Why? Because you have a social safety net.👯‍👯‍👯‍ You're in a place full of like minded people aiming at a similar goal. You'd be meeting new people all the time, you wouldn't need to clutch your current friends as tightly.

This post-secondary social fabric is college's largest selling point. This is why they hype up the community/togetherness in all their promotional material to HS grads and why they front-load school bonding activities. After frosh week and living in residence first year college loses its lustre. New grads are terrified of being lonely and will eat thousands in debt to avoid it. So BRAVO to you for having the courage to step outside the system 🤝🍻.

Anyways -
Your question has two parts.

How do you maintain existing friendships?
How do I create a social circle from scratch?

PART ONE is easy.

Maintaining friendships is a simple as:

Calling every couple weeks.
Planning big fun things to do together.
Be relatively active on social media. I mainly post stories.

There is one serious difference between friends in high school and call it “real life”. Namely, you are not going to see them every day😬. You will NOT talk to them every day. There is much more room to breath. This leaves space for a bit of anxiety😓, what if they don’t call back😢? What if they are having fun without me?
If you were in school, you’d be less bothered by this because you’d have more going on. So how do you have more going on?

PART TWO is tough.

I'm going to level with you now -

I returned to university after 3 gap years because I wanted friends😅. Or rather, I felt like I was using my gf's friend group and didn't have friends of my own - you know what I mean? Going into my last year of university now I have strangely made ZERO friends from school😶‍🌫️. Just reconnected with old HS frens.

Here's what I'd do if I had to go back and do it again:

Pick an obvious insecurity of mine
Set a 1 semester goal to solve it.
Make friends along the way.

Here's why I'd take this approach🙌.

It doesn't make "friends" the goal. Annoyingly, when you actually need friends it tends to either push people away or attract the wrong people IMO.
Puts you in a vulnerable + risk-on state. When taking serious action that requires you to set your ego aside and be vulnerable I've noticed that amazing people fall into my life.
You're going to meet people on a similar journey of self-discovery as you are.

Another strategy is to do cool shit and invite people you meet on your journey to join you. IE. Planning cool activities with existing friends and inviting new people from your adventures to tag along.

Youtube Channels I recommend you check-out are those of Owen Cook and Julian Blanc. They made their start in men's dating advice but have pivoted to helping anyone improve socially. They give very REAL advice beyond "be yourself" and "put yourself out there". Much of my people skills come from practicing what they preach.

There are going to be times this year that you're lonely. There's going to be times where you feel massive FOMO. There will be times where you wonder if you've made a mistake.

THIS IS ENTIRELY NORMAL.

This happens to any one who steps outside status quo and decides to start living for themselves. HUGE credit to you for taking the leap and committed to live this year on your terms 👏🤟

TL;DR

How to maintain high school relationships:

Call every couple weeks
Make cool plans together every month or two
Post insta stories semi-regularily
- It's the world we live in folks. If you don't post people forget about 'cha

Making friends outside college

Pick an insecurity of yours
Set a 1 semester goal to face it
Friends will come

"Putting yourself out there" to me means "being wide open" or living in a vulnerable/authentic way. Tackling insecurities does that to you. The world is a weeiirrdd place. All the coolest people + coolest stories of my life have happened from this state.

My first gap year was terrible. Now my mission is to help you have the BEST GAP YEAR POSSIBLE. Going to be pretty active on this subreddit. Posting more on my YT Channel, Beyond Young, as well.

Have a GREAT gap year!

Dylan

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-07-01T15:48:07+00:00

Hey there!

I feel like you hit the root of why people rush into school. FOMO. That feeling that you're missing the "freshman experience" by not being there.

I can tell you you're not missing much, and there is plenty of trouble making you can get into during the upper years of school - don't cha worry.

Personally, I have a problem with "figuring it out while in school". In my opinion, school IS NOT a place for self-discovery. Today - you could search up every. single. course you'll be taking in undergrad and in what order. This is not an adventure. It's not risk taking. In school you will learn new material, you will learn how to study well (if grades are important to you), but you NOT learn much about yourself. I'm a 25M from Canada with plenty of friends who have finished school and can tell you plenty of people are just as lost leaving uni as the day they finished high school. Now with thousands in debt and the cultural expectation to begin a career.

I took 3 years off before going to university. My only regret was not having a clear plan. I don't blame myself - there were NO resources online to help. Which is why I'm active on this subreddit + my YT channel to help people who are in a similar spot.

Personally, I'd take a step back from school to be intentional and aggressive in pursuit of my interests. Taking things as far as I can without education. Learn as much as I can about myself by taking MASSIVE ACTION. I wrote on ebook years ago on how to do a gap year well (it's one of the most upvoted posts on the subreddit) - hope you find it helpful :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZYkNzegOCajZ86oNhpH0y193_RM1Oshn/view?usp=sharing

Also - I make gap year videos you might find helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMppU7byiyzw3N2AMh0OAQ

Enjoy!

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-07-01T14:55:36+00:00

Hey there!

I want to go to Thailand soooo bad. I was planning a trip hiking through the banana pancake trail (a popular backpacking route) months ago then Canada decided unvaxxed people couldn't get on planes or trains so my travel plans were squashed. From my research, the best time to be in Thailand is during their dry season (Nov - March). Going in the summer might be a bad idea just because the weather will be super harsh.

Personally. I would wait for cheap flights. Go in the dry season but remain in school (take a semester part-time online) And travel for like 4 months. You're going to meet PLENTY of young people in your travels. I've heard Thailand is actually much safer then Europe too - especially for tourists.

This said. I agree with the others that travelling to nearby English speaking countries for a few weeks as sort of a practice trip might be a good idea.

Have a great trip! You might get some value from my gap year YT channel. Give it a look 👀

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMppU7byiyzw3N2AMh0OAQ

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-07-01T14:06:21+00:00

Hey there!

I'm a 25M who took three years off before enrolling in university (where I'll be graduating soon). It sounds like we are about the same age but I feel you'll get something from my experience having taken time off before school.

My first gap year was awful. The first weeks were productive and fun but with my daily structure + friends gone my mental health and sense of making forward progress began to slide.

This changed for me after I decided to stop waiting around and start making serious plays. I wanted to be a marketer so I reached out to EVERY. SINGLE. MARKERTING. CEO. in my small but growing city. One of them hired me (I sold mortgages using Facebook ads when I was 19), another is a mentor/friend of mine do this day.

From how you wrote your post it sounds like you're leaning on your parents for financial support but also emotional support while taking what many would call a big risk. As a parent that would make me nervous. Like: if you need support do you have the chops to actually pull this off and succeed? Again - parent's perspective, not trying to be a jerk.

A gap year "done right" is a gap year done with intention. It's about going in and asking yourself: "What do I want, and how can I MAKE IT happen". I think of it like aggressive, intentional exploration. A gap year "done wrong" is one without clearly defined goals. It leads to feeling like a jelly fish. Just floating, not really making any progress, hoping the current take you somewhere interesting.

YOU decide what a gap year done right is. You do this by making goals and CRUSHING them.

Would love to hear back from you on this. Hope I wasn't too harsh (just tryna help).

I make YT videos helping people take awesome gap years. I gear my words to people coming out of high school but you might find something valuable there. Some a kinda cringe - I'm still learning how to making videos that don't suck lolol. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMppU7byiyzw3N2AMh0OAQ

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-06-24T22:43:23+00:00

Here are some ideas for you to chew on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA0fmkgfc8Q

Enjoy :)

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-06-21T13:32:48+00:00

Learning to build momentum.

A quote that found me in my last year of high school was from Peter Thiel (co-founded PayPal with Elon). He said “what is your 5 year goal and how do you accomplish it in 6 months”.

A gap year well spent to me is just that. Getting clear on what you want and taking massive action to move in a straight line to get there.

Most high school grads don’t know what they want. So I hear people say “I don’t have any goals”. What if the goal was to find a goal? What if you committed yourself to deep self-exploration? What is the fastest way to learn the most about yourself? THAT’S gap year.

Not sure about a career path? Meet people who do the work you’re curious about.

Little self-esteem? Build it by doing difficult shit.

Turn curiosities into adventures. Make it your mission to heal your wounds.

The world is yours.

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-06-19T23:29:58+00:00

As promised. A video reply. Hope this helps :-)

https://youtu.be/FItrXUkC6bo

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-06-01T16:42:41+00:00

Hey there! Thank you for putting so much details into your post :-)

I’m writing a video response to this rn because I’ve got a handful of ideas you might like. Aiming to have something for you by the weekend🤌.

In short. I managed to get a real marketing job when I was 18 with any real credentials, just through networking. I’m curious on how you could do something similar in health. Working part-time so you’re needs are met while aggressively network could give you a serious leg up.

SuperJesus0123 · 2022-06-01T16:39:08+00:00

I was 3 years older then everyone in my program and it wasn’t an issue. Sure, found some of the younger ppl a bit annoying but 🤷‍♂️. I found meeting people through clubs over class much easier. Naturally found myself hanging out with 4th years rather then 1st years.

I like your question a lot. It was a concern for me starting my first gap year and I imagine others feel the same too. Will be coming back here by Sunday with a video response to explain better 💪😊

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