What are you planning on doing with your life? + my break year + advice for what to do after graduating high school

 

What Are You Planning On Doing With Your Life? 

advice on taking a break after high school + all that happened in my “break year”

”What are you planning on doing with your life?” 

I think this is a big question people are asked when they graduate from high school. For some this is an easy answer but for others they honestly don’t know what they are doing. 

I know that for me, I was one of these people. I didn’t know what I really wanted to do with my life past graduation. What should I do? What do I tell people I do when they ask me what I do??? 

I was uncertain on what was the best thing to do. I felt like I had a lot of options but what was best and right for me? 

I ended up feeling peace to take a “break year”. A year to think and decide what I wanted to do. A year to rest from having been doing schooling most of my life. A year to take things slow and not be stressed. If you know me or have been following along on my blog for the past few years then you probably know that finding and following after God’s peace is very important to me. After I graduated, actually before, I felt peace to take a break and I needed that. I didn’t realize until after everything happened. 

It has now officially been a year since I took that break. A full year. So much has happened. So much has changed. I needed that year break. God knew I needed to take a break. 

So, in today's post I want to do two things. I want to tell you a bit about my last year and why I can so clearly see now that God knew I needed to take a break. Second, I want to encourage YOU to take a break year if you need it after graduating and some encouragement for those of you like me who aren’t going to college and are maybe following a career path that is not traditional. 

Take A Break 

I want to take a moment to, if this is you, or about to be you, to encourage you to be okay with taking a break if you need it. I know when I graduated I took a break to find out what is next and what I want to do with my life (which I’ll talk more about in the next section) and that was such a wonderful break. I’m at the end of that break year and I needed that time to brainstorm and figure out what I wanted to do (there are other reasons that were important for me to take this break) but I really want to encourage you that if you need it, take a break and be okay saying that to others. 

If you are going straight to college then that's wonderful but if you have no idea what you want to do or be or maybe you do know but it's not traditional (think writing, art, being an entrepreneur, things like that when you don’t necessarily have to go to college). 

Be confident enough to say you are taking a break, or that you are still figuring out what you want to do or that you know what you want to do and be confident in that. 

I also think it’s okay to not have it all figured out in high school or once you have graduated. I think it can be valuable (at least in my experience) to take a break and get closer to God, get creative, and try new things. 

I really think that if God has not yet shown you or put on your heart what you are supposed to do and the reason you are here, then He will. BUT that might mean taking a break and being patient. Maybe this is a time to grow in your faith and your walk with God. Maybe this is a rest season before you start running in the path God has for you. Maybe this is a time you are supposed to be home with your family and focused on them (I know that is why I needed to take a break even before I knew it). Maybe this is a time to grow in your talents and be faithful in the small so then God will bless you with more and you will be set up for the rest of your career and life. Maybe this is a time to learn, learn new skills without the pressure of school. There can be many benefits to taking a break after high school or if that is the season of life you are entering (a season of rest). 

I HIGHLY recommend taking a break (especially after high school AND if you are still in that stage and season of figuring out what God has called you to do with your life)! 

A Break Year | in review 

May 2023 — May 2024 

Now I want to chat with you about what my break year looked like. Honestly, this is mostly for myself to look back on what happened because a LOT happened. Feel free to read on if you want but mostly, what I wanted to encourage you with was what I wrote above so no pressure to keep reading. 

Without further ado, my last year: 

May 2023 

To start things off, before I graduated, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I ended up having some really amazing conversations with my parents who are and have always been so supportive of me. They encouraged me in writing and if that truly is my love and passion and where I feel led by God to be and do then to follow after it and work on getting published. So even though I was taking a “break year” I had some direction on what I wanted to do after high school though there were still things that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. The really amazing thing is, after a year of being on break, I am starting to have more clarity on what to do and where to go from here. I’m so thankful and I really feel like God does have a plan but I needed to take a break (he knew all the things that were about to happen) before he could then give me direction on what is next. For now, the most important thing was being with family, trusting in God and learning to heal. 

• Graduation & Rest | read the post 

July & August 2023 

Then in July, the week before my eighteenth birthday, I started to lose my vision. It was very rapid how bad it was getting. It went from perfectly normal to being even hard to see my family, that was how blurry they were. They were like blurry blobs moving around the room. It was scary. 

We ended up going to the hospital. They actually got me in early (it can be a few weeks up to a month or more to get in to see the doctors out where I live unless it is an emergency) because they were worried about my eye condition. They did some eye tests, ones I failed completely and then terrified me. The doctor was so worried about me she said that she feared I had a tumor. She told me that if it got any worse, I would need to go to the ER an hour away to get emergency brain scans and do other tests (all things they could not do at any local hospital). I was terrified. Yes, I was worried about my eyesight before but I never even considered something like a tumor. It took everything in me to not break down in the hospital room. 

The doctor was able to set up an emergency check up at the eye doctor about 15-20 minutes away. They were actually kind enough to stay open for me to have a check up even though they were past closing time. 

We went to the eye doctor (I was with my mom and while we were there my dad came to be with us). We prayed and prayed. I broke down multiple times. Then it came time to have my eyes checked. 

And you know what happened? I didn’t have tumors!!! The eye doctor was able to confirm that and though they had NO IDEA what was wrong with me I wasn’t about to die. Thank you Jesus!!! 

I was actually prescribed by my eye doctor to go outside and look at trees and nature. I was also told to take a break from screens and from reading. So I did that. I took a break from writing and reading (though I still took a journal around with me when I went outside to get story ideas down). It was actually a really peaceful time even. 

I had amazing help and support from my family and friends. I tried different supplements and ways to strengthen my eye health. One of my friends, Shira, helped me find different eye therapy methods. My parents as well as my friend Madi encouraged and reminded me to wear my prescribed glasses because I would forget or wouldn't want to wear them so they helped me remember. I am truly so thankful for all the people who helped me and encouraged me during this time. 

It took a long time but almost a year later (Coincidence? I think not! (If you get the reference we are besties, lol)) I am actually having eye improvement!!! I can see people without them being blurry blobs! I can go to a store and not have a massive headache. I can walk in the dark nearly perfectly (my night vision (aka the ability to adapt and adjust to new and changing lighting) flew out the door the moment I started having eye issues). 

There have been a lot of things that have been helping me on my health journey and soon I want to do a whole post on eye health (and writing health) and what I’ve been doing but more than anything I feel like this is God’s plan and timing. 

• Some Health Things I’m Doing | read the post 

Because some more things were going to happen and I needed to stay with my family and focus on them. 

October 2023  

Time travel to October with me. 

On October 9th, 2023, my baby sister Oceana Grace was born. Now we went from a family of 7 to a family of 8 (I am the oldest of 6 amazing siblings). It was so wonderful having a little sister and a little girl in the house again. 

I love all my siblings to pieces and she has fit right in. It's hard to believe there was a time without her. 

Already (as of June 14th) she is crawling and pulling herself up on things. She really wants to move around and walk to be around my youngest brother Lion (they are the cutest together). She is starting to say “mama” and it is adorable! She is our little princess and we love her so much! 

December 2023  

In December my grandpa died. It was out of the blue. None of us expected it. He was actually getting stronger and healthier than he had been in years. One day he just died. 

My dad was the one to find him. 

I will never forget that day. I will never forget hearing the news. I will never forget hearing my mom cry (I’ve never heard someone cry like she did that day with such heartbreak). I will never forget the pain of that day. 

It continued on. Everyday without him felt like another day further away from him. Everyday was hard. We would just cry. I would even wake up crying sometimes. 

Then there was more pain. Pain that lasted for weeks…months. I’m still learning to forgive even now. It's hard. It was also hard because we couldn’t even grieve grandpa with everything happening. That was hard. 

If I was away at college or doing something else, I know I would have never forgiven myself for leaving knowing my grandpa would die so suddenly. We were so close. It is hard being without him. 

I am thankful God kept me here. I’m thankful that I got to spend a lot of time with my grandpa before he died (we actually celebrated his birthday just the week before). I’m thankful God placed it on my heart to take a break and not focus really on anything so I could focus on my family and then this loss. 

I am also thankful, and this is a funny one, but I am thankful that a year before any of this happened I had a story on my heart to write. A story that taught me how to grieve in a healthy way. A story where the main character was going through the loss of his Grandfather who he was so close to and it devastated him. Through that story I learned how to grieve and heal. Through that story I was almost in a way prepared to face loss—this loss. 

I’m so thankful God helped me through that time. I honestly do not know what I would have done without him. That loss could have destroyed me. It could have killed me. 

God got me through it all. 

• 21 Days Of Prayer (seeing my walk with grief) | read the series 

• Losing Grandpa | read the post 

• A Month Since His Passing | read the post 

February & April 2024 

Facing rejection 

I’m going to get real with you (that sounds quite dramatic doesn’t it? Lol). I decided that it was time to go into the realm of querying and trying to turn my dream of being published into a reality. 

So I prayed really hard about this. I felt peace about two specific companies. I sent my novel to both of them and waited. And waited. 

During that time I had a specific prayer. A prayer that God would lead me where He wants me to go. That He would give me clear yeses and noes. 

In February I got my first rejection letter and though I was sad the letter was actually so sweet and encouraging. Funny how something sad like that can actually be really happy. 

• Podcast episode | listen to the episode 

Then in April much to my astonishment I got a second reaction letter. Now you may be wondering, “why were you astonished?” Well, the second company I went to has a very specific policy. If you are accepted they will contact you. If you are rejected you will know that after three months when they do not contact you. They contacted me to tell me no! Honestly I was actually kinda excited! What a weird thing to say. Lol. 

My biggest prayer through the whole time was for God to lead me where Ge wanted me and to give me clear answers. He did just that! Even in having the company who doesn’t respond when you get rejected, send me a response! What a blessing! 

The Noble Oath 2023–2024 

All of this then leads me to The Noble Oath. This book has changed my whole writing career. 

After my grandpa’s death, my mom and I were having this conversation. My mom just spoke really encouraging words to me and spoke this calling over me and this novel. It gave me a new direction and calling! I love this story and the mission it has. Ummm did I find my debut novel??? Oh yes! 

This novel is really special to me because of the mission (and one very special character who is made in honor of my grandpa). 

I share all about this story exclusively on my newsletter if you are interested in getting updates and quotes as well as the vault of some of my past newsletters so you don’t miss a thing! 

In Reflection 

I needed this break year. God knew I needed this break year and I’m so thankful He led me to doing this! 

Now, a year later, I have a mission and calling on my writing I’m so grateful for, I have new excitement and direction on some upcoming projects (I share these with my newsletter subscribers first), and I feel like I’m entering a new season/era of my life. Things are moving and changing and I’m SO EXCITED to see all that God has in store!