Teaching reconfigured

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I want to begin with this caveat: if you are thinking about leaving your career in teaching, then this blog is for you. I will not coerce you into leaving. That is your choice to make. I want to use this blog to give you information so you can make a better decision. If you want to leave but feel stuck in a dead-end job and think you don’t have skills outside of teaching, I am here to offer you hope. You have a LOT of skills that can be transformed into other careers outside of a traditional classroom. IF you want to take time away from teaching and can afford it, I suggest taking an unpaid sabbatical. I had considered that at some point, but I didn’t want to give up my paycheck. That almighty dollar.

In this section I will be giving information about how to transition from teaching in a classroom to a different career. I am a former elementary teacher that left when my health dictated it. Even before that, I wanted to leave teaching but I didn’t know how. I felt stuck in a teaching career that was as stagnant as pond water. The only way you move up the ladder is to become a principal or a director of something. I wanted neither. While I spent a year not working at all so I could concentrate on my health, I learned a lot of valuable information that I want to share with you. So, if you are thinking about getting out of teaching, follow along. You are on the right path. I want to see you succeed and not feel as lost as I did. After I gained my health back, I was able to land a full time job. I now work at a local university as the Educational Resource Coordinator/Accessibility Specialist. My salary is almost what I made teaching but it’s only 40 hours a week. I get my weekends back. I get my evenings back. I have time on my hands to work on hobbies or writing blogs. I don’t come home exhausted, or mad, or in a fight or flight mode.

Many hands of volunteers during Maths class

Like I said earlier, I knew I wanted out of teaching long before my health deteriorated due to high levels of stress, but I had no clue how to do that or what that even looked like. First let me begin by giving you 5 signs that you are ready to leave the classroom.

  1. You are constantly stressed. I use to leave the school and I drove WAY past the speed limit to get home. I would tell myself to slow down, that no one was chasing me to go back to the building. We have become so used to being stressed, we don’t realize that it’s NOT normal. All jobs have stressful days, but that’s it. It a few days here and there. Teaching is ranked as one of the most stressful jobs. If you are dealing with massive stress, if you have to take an anti-depressant to get through each day, if your blood pressure is through the roof, if your hair starts falling out (I lost it all) due to stress, that’s a sign it’s time to leave.
  2. You dread going into work. I would sit in the parking lot debating whether to go inside or not. I thought about just running away but I was too responsible of a person to do that. I thought about calling in sick (sick of teaching) but then I would have to make DETAILED lesson plans which took HOURS! Then I would give myself a pep talk and face another day. You need a career that respects you, your time, your worth, and your family. You deserve better.
  3. Work-life balance is a joke! I know I’m not alone when I say that I spent over 60 hours a week doing teacher stuff. All the demands and pressures were too much. I was barely keeping my head above water. If I didn’t work that many hours in a week, then everything suffered. Don’t even mention the holiday breaks and summer breaks. Ha! Those were used to try to catch up, which rarely happened. If you’re tired of teaching taking up all or at least most of your free time that you could be spending with your family, friends, hobbies, Netflix binge-watching and you feel mad about losing that time, that’s a sign it’s time to find a job/career that leaves you feeling like you are cared for.
  4. Feeling worthless. I used to feel the same way. I’d think to myself “I’m JUST a teacher”. I have no other skills. My degree is useless. Parents question my ability to teach. Students don’t treat me with respect. Administration is bearing down with all kinds of requirements and expectations. You DO have value as a person. You DO have skills that will transfer into a different career/job (more on that in another blog-coming soon). You have experience as a teacher that will gives you bonus points in dealing with problems, humanity, and anything else that comes your way. You have a unique perspective on life.
  5. You have health issues. About the 8th year of teaching at my past school, I felt the nudge from God that I should be doing something else instead of teaching. But I ignored it. My doctor prescribed one anti-depressant, “happy pills” as I call them. I told myself then, if I have to take “happy pills” in order to do my job, then it was time to quit. But I didn’t. Then I experienced swollen lymph nodes for 6 months that no one could diagnose except that maybe I had mono. I was horribly tired. All. The. Time. Then my hair began to thin. It took less and less time to style it every morning. At some point, I realized it was falling out at an alarming rate. I went to see my hairdresser. She told me to get to a doctor quick. I did. I was given a second “happy pill” to go along with the first one. My blood pressure was through the roof. I asked my doctor to fill out FMLA papers. She didn’t hesitate. Best decision I ever made. I took FMLA from February to June 1 when my contract expired. Then I quit. WHAT A RELIEF! I was FREE at last!

Leaving teaching does not mean you are a failure. It means you recognize that there is a better way of life. It means taking care of yourself so you can be there for others. Don’t be afraid to take care of YOU first. There are many other careers/jobs out there that you are qualified to do. I’ll go into more depth on those opportunities later. Take care.

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