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I was raised to believe that people should choose a career when entering adulthood and stick with it until retirement. The importance of loving what you do was never mentioned. It wasn’t until I read the book Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson, M.D., that I came to terms with this notion on my own.
Up until June of 2011, I had been an elementary school teacher for 12 years. I had a stable salaried position with excellent benefits, and enjoyed the day to day aspects of being a teacher. Resigning from such a secure position was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made.
When I began my career, I had big plans to spend the next 30 years of my life teaching elementary school, after which I would retire comfortably with a guaranteed pension and board paid health insurance. However, after about 8 years of teaching, I began to develop the urge to try something new and wondered what that something new could be.
Could I teach at the college level? Would it be possible for me to get into curriculum development? Or, going even further out on a limb…Could I pursue my strong interest in writing and somehow make a career out of it? The problem was that every time I weighed my options or talked things over with my husband, I came to the same conclusion. How smart or practical would it be for me to leave such a secure career? Over the course of four years, my yearning to try something new only grew.
During the summer of 2010, drastic developments took shape in the state of Wisc. with regards to union jobs. I was distraught and confused when many of my colleagues lost their teaching positions and their futures became uncertain. I felt guilty because my job was secure due to the amount of seniority I had accumulated while others, who only had the desire to teach, were losing their jobs. My husband recommended that I read the book, Who Moved My Cheese?. This book, in which the characters search for “cheese” (a metaphor for whatever brings a person happiness and success), provided me with an enlightened view of change. Reading the book gave me the inspiration I needed to take the plunge and resign. I was finally ready to change my career course and find my cheese.
For now, I am a stay-at-home mom exploring the possibility of a writing career. However, even with what we are saving on daycare costs, we’ve had to cut back in many areas. I’m not worried though, because I believe that as long as I do something that I am passionate about, an opportunity will eventually present itself. I cannot say that I don’t miss teaching as well as contributing a salary to our household income, but I can definitely say that I am happy with my decision to take a leap of faith because I no longer constantly wonder, “What if?”