I tried to quit teaching in the middle of year one.

I made it all the way to the final round of interviews for a sales company, and chickened out when they told me they would need to talk with my current employer (my principal) to move forward in the interview process.

I decided that leaving mid-year was in poor taste, so I would tough it out, but I would absolutely NOT be returning the next year. I cried in my car every day on the way to school, and then again on the way home. I spent my weekends dreading Mondays. I went back and forth between obsessively checking my email during my free time to make sure I hadn’t missed something from a parent or my principal, and deleting the email app altogether because it made me feel sick.

I had wanted to be a teacher so badly, but nothing about my current situation was what I had imagined it would be. I felt tricked into a lie of a career. It was an ugly feeling.

Then, I finished out that first year. The sweet gifts and hugs goodbye melted me a bit. I enjoyed my summer and decided I should give it another go.

Our first day back typically held a ceremony for any state testing awards our school had earned and, much to my surprise, three teachers were given a plaque for the highest growth in our county. I was one of them. Me. The girl who cried and dragged herself out of bed every day, certain that she was doing a bad job. I was actually doing something right?

I decided then that perhaps I was supposed to be a teacher, but I was making it harder than it needed to be. I could enjoy teaching without letting it consume me. I could make a difference and still maintain a personal life. I wanted to be the kind of teacher who rocked observations during the week, and made time for friends on the weekend. I buckled down and learned how to do it. I cut the fluff, streamlined a lot of processes, mastered my lesson planning, and rocked it out as a friend, daughter, teammate, and ultimately a wife and mom.

I want the same for you. If anything I said resonated with you, I’m here to take a massive weight off of your shoulders. So sit back, relax (even though that word is probably far-removed from your vocabulary during the school year), and let me help you be the teacher who has it all.

Let’s all teach well, then go home.