If you’re Googling ‘Will I regret leaving teaching?’ right now…
If you’re Googling ‘Will I regret leaving teaching?’ right now…maybe the real question is, ‘Is it possible to stay?’
Wow, September really did a number on you. It was returning in a post-Covid September that tipped the balance for me.
When I started out I kind of knew what I was getting into (growing up watching my teacher mum work all evening, and hearing stories of my teacher dad getting out after 3 years)…but I guess I wasn’t prepared for living the reality of it.
Being a teacher is not ‘just’ teaching. It’s managing moods; anticipating and de-escalating conflict; playing politics; data management that feels like a tick-box exercise; heck, even spending your own money on supplies (and I’m not joking when I say my mum used to buy me packs of gluesticks for Christmas).
It’s also the personal fallout – being a crap friend; a snappy partner; a distant daughter. Honestly, I didn’t really like who I was when I was teaching. I could bring the very best of myself out for 60 minutes 4 or 5 times, then disappear into a shell when I arrived home. And my health? Ask me how long you can survive on tea and toast for dinner.
I’d already written my resignation letter just before Covid hit but never handed it in. Being locked down gave me some of myself back, but when the reality of post-Covid education hit the following September, I was done.
BUT (and it’s a pretty big but)…
I loved teaching. Really loved it. There is no feeling that compares to having a class in the palm of your hand and watching a bunch of teenagers’ eyes widen as something you’ve been banging on about for weeks finally lands. Or the in-jokes! Oh, the in-jokes! And Year 11 – ah! Joy!
And this is why I say the balance tipped – it was very much teacher joy vs my own joy. Finally, the need to look after myself and reclaim an energy for life finally won out.
I didn’t see another way.
I didn’t think it was possible to be a teacher and live any other way.
But what if there had been?
Now – I offer women just like you the chance to pause before making the jump. To explore the possibility that there is a way to make it work: to put your wellbeing first; to reconnect with the joy of knowing who you are outside the classroom; to set and hold boundaries that protect you and your relationships; and to get clarity on what you want.
And if the answer at the end of all of that is still, ‘I have to leave’, you’ll have reached the decision from a place of calm clarity, not panic.
So, if you’re Googling ‘Will I regret leaving teaching?’ I already know three things:
1 – You love it
2 – You want to know if there’s a way to make it work, and
3 – if there is a way to make it work, where do you even start?
Am I right? Join me on Instagram to be part of the conversation.