Guest commentator: Jack Walker, Client Solutions Associate, Resource Environmental Solutions LLC
Taking Time For Yourself
I wanted to share an experience near and dear to my heart for this exercise. And the ultimate purpose of this message is to promote youth professionals to look into the option of taking a Gap Year/time away from work.
From an early age, I had my mindset on hiking the entirety of the Appalachian Trail. In 2020 against all odds I made it happen. From July 4th to December 23rd I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. 2, 193 Miles of freedom, reflection, and prospecting. While on this journey often hiking 18-20 miles a day it goes without saying you have endless time to think. The simple nature of walking allows for the mind to wander and explore every nook and cranny of your conscious and subconscious mind. A place that can often be shadowed by the day-to-day stressors of everyday life.
In relation to YPC, on this journey I often thought about the current state of my career. At the time of my journey, I was 3 years into professional work life and I felt I had a lot to look back on. Through my soul searching, I fortified my willpower, my ability to be confident, and my ability to stand by what I believe in, even if it means missing out on an opportunity or disagreeing with colleagues. I began to really internalize that sticking to who you are is always the path that will lead you to where you want to go. So often as young professionals we lack the experience and leverage to voice our opinions and speak our mind to share our beliefs. Whether it be for work life balance, commute times or input on business strategy, our voice, albeit understandably is often muted. But I began to realize that my leverage to a company, is my work ethic, my ability to be a team player, and so on.
These traits act as leverage for young professionals in aims to getting one what they may want at work. For example, while it may not allow a youth architect to be lead designer on the big project, maybe it allows a young professional to up their vacation time or salary by sticking to their guns and standing on their confidence that they are quite valuable to the company.
Some of these thought patterns truly just scratch the surface on how transformative this experience was for me. And while all may not want to be homeless and live in the woods for 6 months, I can not recommend enough the importance for youth professionals to plan a gap year/gap months. Life is too short to waste on a job you don’t like. Take the time to invest in yourself, and I promise you the dividends will pay off.
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