Last updated on October 9th, 2023 at 04:00 pm
I was a few years into my career when I realized that my life goals outside of my profession were important enough to start getting my focus. It came to a point where I was spinning too many plates at once, and I made the decision to dedicate everything to pursuing those other aspirations.
When teaching wasn’t my primary focus anymore
I tell this to people: teaching is at least 1.5 full-time jobs. You have your first job just during the day with the kids. Then you have a part-time job after school hours and on weekends and holidays preparing for that time with the kids.
The burnout piles on rapidly.
I was able to keep up with this from ages 22-25. I credit my three years of teaching first grade and everything it entailed to my youthful stamina and hopeful, doe-eyed internal motivation. To give you a general notion of the marathons I was running: I had such urgency in teaching my students to read, I tutored my highest-need students for free after school. I tutored the mid-range students (bubble kids, they sometimes call them) during my lunch. I came in each Saturday to do prep work and lesson plans until October, then the occasional Saturday. I worked on Thanksgiving and winter breaks. Summers were for reading dozens of professional books and acquiring classroom supplies and regaining the strength to endure another school year.
Most days, when I got home I just sank into the nearest furniture piece until pitch black showed through the window panes. I remember being so strung paperthin and desperate for relief that after school one day I went to the grocery store, bought myself a thick slice of birthday cake and a bottle of Moscato and imbibed this feast of sadness under the covers while watching a show.
It wasn’t healthy. When I zoomed out on what I wanted my life to be, this wasn’t it.
Teaching was so rewarding, and I loved my first graders. They brought me so much joy. But after three years, I decided to nonrenew my contract for the first time.
Goals for my life after teaching
I tend to be a wide-eyed optimist when it comes to life achievements. I was raised in a generation that was told we could do anything we set our minds to, after all. As I began to sift through everything I wanted to do, four main themes started to emerge.
Here were my most important goals:
1. To write a book
2. To travel
3. To shape up my health
4. To work on dating and finding my husband
It was a hefty group of goals– none of which were easy to explain to others. In fact, I didn’t tell people most of it because it’s plain awkward to talk about. What kind of modern woman quits her job to focus on finding a husband? Or in regards to the travel/writing goal– I assumed people would write me off as some careless free spirit throwing away my career and my 401k.
It was a hefty group of goals– none of which were easy to explain to others.
Charmaine
How I finally took the plunge out of teaching
Alright, so I quit. Now what?
I was running on a clock. With my savings, I figured I had at least one year to operate in this “gap.” But I’d have to work, too. I calculated what I would make subbing, and interestingly enough, (though it didn’t include any traditional benefits), my income from subbing an average of 16 days a month in my home district would match what I was bringing home from teaching full-time at my charter school. That gave me at least one weekday to work on my goals. And subbing would include none of the “extra” of teaching, the part-time job of planning and prepping that I explained earlier.
I ended up taking two years of patching together subbing + goals work (see aforementioned goals). You can see that the expectations I had for this profession pause were very high. I detail in another post which tasks I was able to accomplish.
Making quitting teaching work financially
Finances were my biggest worry when quitting. I believe I was able to make it work through strategic planning and belonging to a solid support system like living in the same town as my family.
My finance strategy was composed of the following:
1. My car and student loans were paid off. I had no debt payments to make.
2. I lived fairly cheaply by renting a house with roommates. Our landlord was a friend/acquaintance who gave us a good rate.
3. My savings got me through summers and holiday breaks (though I did end up working one summer at a summer school program).
4. I had two long-term sub positions and taught summer school, which increased my expected income.
5. I cooked most of my meals at home and visited my parents often for other free, delicious meals.
I don’t want to make quitting full-time to launching into part-time work look easy financially, because it’s certainly not. But I want to point out the different areas I piled in my favor that all, as a whole, ended up adding up in a meaningful way.
After my teaching career break
After my two-year hiatus, I returned to the classroom refreshed and ready to have my own class again— this time to teach third grade. It was the break I needed and a bridge between being all about primary to focusing on intermediate grades, which I fell in love with.
I came back with fresh ideas and a new appreciation for having my own classroom after substituting in so many different rooms. It was the break I needed to push on in teaching for a few more years. Grateful for that next chapter in my teaching journey, I ended up quitting again after two years (well, they were pandemic teaching years, so that felt like 5) to pursue other life goals. You can read all about that experience on this blog. If you’re thinking of making a move out of the profession, peruse my other Leaving Teaching posts. I’m rooting for you!
