Every one of us goes through life one major milestone at a time. Slowly, but surely, we transition from early childhood to the teen years, then become young adults, go to school graduations, change jobs, get married, have kids, and so on. All the way through to retirement (or even beyond), one milestone at a time.

One of the most significant transitions is the one from high school to college or university. This is when we have to make the final decision about what we want to do in life—and it’s an important one.

So, it should come as no surprise that some decide to take a gap year—a period of time to be used for reflecting upon this life decision. Despite some being of the opinion that it is deliberate self-hindrance, forcing ourselves to fall behind others, consequently encouraging a stigma around it, it was actually proven to be an effective way of figuring things out.

CeeDanyell tweeted about her difficulties with returning to college after some gap years

Image credits: CeeDanyell

Twitter user CeeDanyell posted about how she’s embarrassed to be going back to college after having spent some time away from it all. She said that the people she graduated high school with were near graduating college at that point, while she’ll only going to be a sophomore.

This is one of those moments where that nasty stigma I told you about took the forefront.

Got a surprising response of support from another Tweeter

Image credits: Meck0

However, another user by the tag of Meck0 came to the rescue and shared his experience with the gap year. And how it’s not the end of the world.

He explained that he took an 8-year hiatus. It was such a long time that the guy he had tutored before he left was now his professor when he returned. Moreover, during a casual conversation, he found out that the professor had visa issues and had spent 15 years getting a 5-year degree.

He concluded by saying that things like graduation and whatnot don’t have a determined deadline and that everyone has their own pace. And that is OK: “Just run your race love; the finish line don’t have an expiration date.”

And soon many others jumped in sharing their own experience

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This wholesome exchange of tweets went viral and a number of other Internauts jumped in to share their own stories of how taking a gap year turned out alright in the end, if not much better than having no gap year at all.

Despite some saying gap years are counter-productive, studies show positive personal outcomes among gappers

Image credits: Gap Year Association National Alumni Survey

According to the Gap Year Association National Alumni Survey, a staggering 81% of all survey participants said they were very likely to recommend taking a gap year to someone considering it.

The survey went on to explain that the main reasons for taking a year off were to gain life experiences and experience personal growth (92%); to travel, see the world, and experience other cultures (85%); and to take a break from the traditional academic track (81%)—all considered reasons that enrich the person.

This, in turn, allowed the respondents to develop more as a person, increase in maturity, gain greater self-confidence, and get to know people and places around the world.

Here is how the rest of the internet cheered Cee on

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This story also received a lot of support from the Reddit community

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