A break from one responsibility may have been a season full of another.

Gaps in a record rarely mean gaps in effort. Time away from paid work, from a hobby, from public life often coincides with illness, caregiving, a move, a family crisis or the raising of small children, none of which appear anywhere as achievement. The absence looks like rest from outside and was frequently the opposite; assuming idleness in someone’s quiet years is one of the easier mistakes to make and one of the least generous.

When you meet a gap, in a resume or in a friendship, ask what that period actually held. Extend the same charity to your own quiet stretches.