I left corporate America for a gap year in my 40s. The experience changed my spending and priorities.

The author took a career break in her 40s.

Courtesy of the author

In 2023, I stepped back from a demanding, over-20-year career in corporate America.At the time, I didn't think of it as a gap year; that was for college kids or people going on a retreat somewhere exotic. A friend from the UK informed me that a gap year was exactly what we, two moms in our 40s, had done — take time off to explore, get to know ourselves, and figure out what's next, without pay or benefits.I started my gap year stressed, lost, and tiredI spent my 20s and 30s trying to have it all — the family, the career, the success.Trying to have it all is exhausting. Life had felt like sprinting a marathon for as long as I could remember. I had no idea how tired I was until I stopped working.

I made a lot of to-do lists during my first few weeks off.

Courtesy of the author