If you could take off a year or two, what would you do?

Taking a year off ain’t happening any time soon for me. Not for decades. Four kids, my career struggles, and so on. And I’m not even sure I’d want a year off if I had the opportunity. But it’s an interesting mental exercise — kind of like I wrote about in one of my other stories (Where would you live if you could live anywhere?)

So:

• I’d read a lot. Every day for hours. Fiction and non-ficiton. Famous novels and modern authors.
• I’d do a master's degree in English. English is not my native language and I have a lot of questions. Consider for example the topic of this story. Initially, I wrote If you take a year or two off, what would you do? Then I changed it to place “off” after “take”. I’m not sure which version is right. Or is it “what version is right?” Damn!
• I’d go to the gym. As a passionate and committed runner, I can’t complain about my fitness, but I hate going to the gym. And I can’t afford it in terms of investing time. I spend 1–2 hours every day running and adding more exercise would be a luxury. I can’t possibly sacrifice my running. So if I had more time, I’d hire a fitness instructor and work on my flexibility and strength.
• I’d learn to play some musical instrument, probably piano. I can’t play any, I can’t read music notes but the music is in me. I love music.
• I’d try yoga.
• I’d learn a language. Spanish or Mandarin.