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 I took a gap year after 20 years of trying to have a balance as a working mom. I used the time to be curious, try new things, reconnect with my kids, and give myself a break. During my gap year, my priorities changed, and it helped prepare me for being an empty nester. 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.