Just because you’re feeling depressed during a gap year doesn’t mean you need to throw in the towel. ☆ There are a lot of beneficial reasons to doing a gap year: see the world, learn a language, find new passions, step out of the comfort bubble, expand the international network, take a mental health vacation.
Sometimes, your gap year doesn’t go as planned.
In a world of constant action and checklists for life, an increasing percentage of students is starting to feel burnt out, and as a consequence, gap years are starting to become more common. Whether it’s travel before college, a study abroad to break monotony, an internship to delve deeper into an interest, or a volunteer placement to expand philanthropic horizons, gap years are seen as a “breather” to break the daily grind and get out in the world.
However, gap years are not eternal honeymoons: there can be plenty of pesky distractions and negative feelings attached to the experience, especially when the reasons for the gap year are not entirely known. So, next time you’re shoving spaghetti into your mouth at a cute corner trattoria and start bawling without warning, or you’re wanting to drown all those smelly sea turtles you’re supposed to be saving in Belize, take a moment to step back and analyze your emotions. Only then can you replace those gap year blues with some brighter colors.
Different shades of blue
It’s easy to know that something is wrong, but it’s not always so simple to pinpoint the reason. Be aware that there are various sorts of grumpy feelings tied to being depressed during gap year: loneliness, anxiety, isolation, homesickness, culture shock. Here, it’s important to be honest with yourself: don’t judge any feelings, just try to identify them. The subconscious mind is a lot better at feeling things and expressing opinions than our rational one, so the least we can do is listen and try to understand. Are you lonely that you don’t have a community to hang out with, or are you restless that “real life projects” are slipping by around you while you are trying to teach English ABC’s to teenagers that couldn’t care less? Are you tired of latino machismo, or nervous about the task at hand, or you’re just constantly craving a Chipotle burrito and nothing else can fill the gap?
Even when everything should be picture perfect, you can still suffer from depression during a gap year, but it’s ok! We’re here to help.
Once you delve past a mere “angry” or “sad” and have more concrete adjectives to work with, try to identify the reason behind the emotion. Is your personality not fitting with the super remote placement you ended up with? Working with abandoned orphans a lot more psychologically-draining than you thought? Feeling hopeless about project prospects? Overwhelmed by gap year homesickness? Worried that you are in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, at the wrong time? Again, there is no right or wrong here.
One common problem of gap years is that people undertake them to escape something, rather than to do something else. If you’re bored out of your mind in class back home, the prospect of an adventure in Kenya probably sounds like the coolest thing ever. However, that doesn’t mean that you will enjoy cleaning lion poop or building irrigation pipes; when “push” factors overrule the “pull” ones, total depression in scorching hot summers is not too much of a surprise.
7 tips for when you can’t shake those blues
Now that you’ve examined why you’re feeling depressed during your gap year, you can work toward fixing it. The change will probably not be instantaneous, but constant practice will win any race.
There are many ways to ease your gap year homesickness or depression, but remember to be patient with yourself; things may not change overnight!
1. Let it all out.
Since the first step to handling depression is validating the feeling, it makes sense to state the heck out of it. However you wish to express it- a messy journal entry, a long Skype rant, a phone call to Mom, a grotesque interpretive dance-, get those sad thoughts out of your head and into the physical world. Not only will be it be easier to organize them and erase them, but it helps to get that heavy weight off your chest.
2. Engage in your favorite hobby.
Whether it’s running, painting, walking puppies (bonus points for this one), scrapbooking, or baking, one surefire way to stop feeling depressed during your gap year is to engage in something that makes you happy. Sure, there might be initial resistance that goes along with cultural shock (no pink cupcake sprinkles in Cuba, no treadmills in gyms, no tango classes in the local area), but improvisation actually leads to an increased awareness of hobbies. Take the tennis shoes to the beach, work on lady-styling of partner dances, and experiment with new cookie ingredients.
3. Reach out to a friend.
Displacement and loneliness are some of the main reasons behind gap year depression, so it’s important to stay connected. Whether it’s a new local friend or a fellow volunteer member, go grab a coffee together. Not only is it good to talk to someone in front of you, but they might even relate and have some suggestions to get you over the bump.
It can be helpful to meet up with friends you’ve met in your new city. You may even find out that they’re going through the same things.
4. Take care of yourself.
If you’re sad on a gap year excursion, ask yourself some basic questions: Are you sleeping enough? Eating properly? Taking a few showers a week? It’s difficult to save the world when we are not in our best shape, so work on yourself before you rescue rhinos. The basic things in life sometimes get pushed into the shadow of gap year placements, but a balanced diet, enough sleep, and proper hygiene are essential to operating like a human being.
5. (Then, treat yourself).
Once you are surviving, bump up the existence to thriving. While it won’t eliminate the cause, a generous helping of gelato or a thai massage can do wonders to alleviate our current sulk. If you consider all the extra challenges to gap year transitions (new languages, beds, routines, networks, bus schemes, etc.), a special treat has definitely been earned. Don’t be too tough on yourself.
6. Connect with faves from back home.
Sure, we go abroad to immerse ourselves in new cultures, but there are moments that simply require a bag of Oreos and a few hours of Stranger Things. You’re facing new, weird things every day, so a little bit of comfort is no sin. Throw on those fuzzy socks from four Christmases ago, call your BFF, and reconnect with some of your faves. Gap year homesickness is normal, but technology can do miracles to minimize the km between loved ones.
7. Talk to a professional counselor.
When long phone calls to Mom can’t seem to help you feel less depressed during gap year excursions, reach out for professional help. All certified programs should have an adviser that can point you in the right direction; make use of this perk! It can be tough to separate the daily up’s and down’s of moving abroad from more serious depression, and the latter should be treated accordingly. Mental health is the foundation of every adventure, so address it to get the best out of the experience!
Counseling is never a bad idea, especially if nothing else seems to be doing the trick. Help is always out there, so never give up!
Additional resources to support your mental health during your gap year
Everybody’s oversea depression is different—as are the ways to treat it. The best thing to remember is that you’re not the only person sad on gap year trips; many travelers have experienced similar emotions, and some have even shared their journeys to comfort others. Below is a quick list of other resources that might be inspiring:
- GoAbroad’s Mental Health Ebook
- Mental Health Wellness Abroad
- Mental Health Apps (ADAA)
- Best Tools for Coping with Depression While Traveling Abroad
- MIUSA Mental Health Preparations
Decide what is helpful to you, and what isn’t. One major pro to living in the 21st-century is that it is so easy to research and connect online, so read other stories and reach out with a few mouse clicks.
Take care of yourself while you see the world
Look after yourself during your gap year! Not just physically, but emotionally, too! All those changes can lead to homesickness or depression.
It might be annoying to think that you went abroad to have a mental breather, but stress and sadness didn’t stay on the other side of the pond. However, it’s also important to realize that (a) reoccurring emotions are immune to geography, and (b) life abroad isn’t always glamour. You’re not the only one who's ever felt depressed during a gap year. Most days, it’s full of charm and magic, but some days, it just really sucks because it’s been raining for 142 days straight and there is only red sauce next to the mustard.
Frustrations are part of the oversea learning process, not necessary indications of depression on gap year travels. Prolonged sadness or anger are usually something more than culture shock though, so be honest with how you feel and seek help when needed. You’re actually a lot more awesome and a lot stronger than you think, capable of saving all of the wallabies in Australia- and more. Just take care of yourself first, before taking care of the world. Have something to share? ↓
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