Stepping away from a full time teaching position is hard. It’s also hard to live in a ridiculously overpriced resort town without proper pay. I lived in poverty. My Fiance paid the bills. I went to board meetings. I expected a change. I was tired and sick. It is hard to believe that quitting your job could be so freeing. No, technically I didn’t actually quit. I took a leave of absence. I never did get that cup with everyone’s name signed on it, or a going away party from the school. Did I want them, no, probably not. Either way, it is a step I will never forget.
Walking in to the principal’s office for my mid year review I knew what I needed to do. I just didn’t know how it was going to happen. The unknown is scary. What if? Then what? How? All were questions that ran through my mind.
Sitting in the chair a foot away from her. I was thinking, “I bet she can smell my sweaty shoes.” Our time was running out. We were walking down the hall when I threw the news at her like a Frisbee. She took it well, almost too well. Did she know? Who told her. Later, when she would announce my leaving at a staff meeting she would say I was doing community service. Ironic because, well teaching is community service, and I was about to embark on something bigger.
My health. A couple days before my meeting with my principal I had a phone call with my doctor. She told me I may have cancer. What?!?! How is this possible. That’s how bad my health was. I didn’t tell people, because I didn’t want to scare them. Turns out I didn’t have cancer. I had to take my IUD out. (TMI? Sorry, it get’s real here!) And I have Hemochromotosis. Which is a big word for too much iron in your blood. More on that later.
Many times when people find out I stepped away from teaching, maybe for a year, maybe for longer, they ask me how I did it. How do you afford that. Well, like I said, I couldn’t afford to teach! Now I could focus on my new passion. Where I still get to teach people. And yes, I do make money at it. DoTERRA. Teaching about essential oils is healing. I learn something new everyday. I love hearing how the little brown bottles of pureness have helped others. Plus there’s the Community. The community of women who, too, had once been stuck, unhappy, poor. They gave me the confidence to quit my job!
