Friday, July 13, 2012

Clarity

I had an epiphany last night.

I've been stressing.

I don't stress often - my job as a mother and a housewife is not exactly taxing. Big day to day decisions include "what's for dinner?" and "is making pink sparkly play dough three times in a row imposing restrictive gender norms on my daughters?". You know, the big stuff.

But I have been mulling over a big question - what to do with the rest of my life? My professional life, obviously. My personal life is going to involve wiping weetbix and school runs for a long time to come, all hopefully with Mr A as my loyal sidekick. (What's that, darling? I'm the sidekick? Surely not...)

Bug hasn't been sleeping well (I think she's been getting a bit cold) and so I haven't, either. And the concerns of my undecided yet impending future have been magnified by my muddled, sleep deprived head. It's been worrying me.

Mr A and I have decided that I will get a paid job once the girls start school. (He's always careful to specify a "paid" job, he values the work I do at home very highly, thank goodness.) This means that I would need to start retraining at the end of this year.

But what to train into? I want more than a job, I want a career. One that fits in with my family while they are young. Something that, once the girls become increasingly independent, I can pour my energy into. Something I can be passionate about, that holds my interest. Something that pays a reliable wage. Something I will love!

I woke this morning after the first solid night's sleep in week. And I woke with a firm knowledge of what I want to do. It was clear in my mind soon as I lifted it off the pillow.

I will be a high school English teacher.

And now I feel a fresh burst of enthusiasm for my future. I love words. I love sharing knowledge. I have enough command presence to manage a class (but I might eat my words when faced with a class of year nine boys.)

The next step? Researching universities.

How exciting!

**EDIT ...or perhaps I'll be a geography teacher... Apparently my mind is not as made up as it could be!**

10 comments:

  1. You can do both, you can pick your teaching streams usually with a high school education degree :) I reckon you'd be brilliant :D

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  2. I tend to put that question away in the back of my mind, so far away it wont bother me for a long time......I always thought I would be a mother with small children for a 'long' time....I was unrealistic...it has gone way too fast....and now...I will have my last child starting school in 2014. And the question will rear its ugly head.....Ive been doing this for 11 years...I have lost all skills that I had in the workforce before...including the most important one of all...'confidence'....I would be the 40 something temp that has to leave early to do school runs, that is so dumb I would have to ask thousands of boring questions to a girl that used to be me, bitching about 40 something temps asking me lots of questions...lol...how the world turns....
    Its good to know you have some idea of where you would like to head....Im afraid I will still want to head to playgroup..

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  3. With an English degree, you would also have an option of branching out into technical writing. From reading your blog, I also think that you would make an excellent project manager. Another skill set that is in very high demand.

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  4. You begin with several enormous advantages Mrs A - you can string a sentence together, you use good grammar and you can SPELL. I am continually amazed [and vociferously horrified - I shout a lot at the television and social networking sites]at the lack of basic knowledge of English. Don't get me started on the general woeful ignorance of the world about us.....

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  5. Hey I think it is a good thing to stress about whether or not making pink sparkly playdoh 3 times in a row imposes gender restrictions on your girls... I would mostly because I'm the anti pink.

    Never belittle the work you do at home... Mum always used to say 'No one is a just a'

    I wanted to be a high school science teacher, I still do to an extent. But I would wait until all the kidlets were in school. By then I'll probably be in my mid 30's and I dunno if I would be bothered with uni etc

    I think I'll work on being the ultimate domestic goddess and knitting queen for now :D

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  6. Yay, good for you! The part when you're inching your way towards a decision is painful, isn't it? Always such a relief to get there. Your organisational skills are going to make you an amazing teacher.

    I consider myself lucky that there will always be nursing jobs if/when I want to go back. Unless the world runs out of sick people, that is.

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  7. Such a great epiphany! I, too, have been questioning my career path this year--I'm an attorney by trade but am really feeling pulled towards teaching as well. I'm planning on going back to school and getting a teacher's license when we return to the States. I figure I can always keep my law practice on the side, but I think the classroom is the place for me. The problem is deciding what to teach, isn't it (although there are worse problems to have...).

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  8. That sounds wonderful! Way back I got my Grad Dip Ed and taught some high school English in my prac year. The classroom wasn't really for me. Then I went on to become a solicitor and here I am 15 years later teaching people (mostly community groups) about the law and their legal rights. I love preparing information in an easy to understand and digestible way. It's very satisfying. Teaching skills and qualifications open lots of doors, not just high school classroom doors...

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  9. Once upon a time I wanted to be an English teacher.
    The End.
    ~S.

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  10. I've always said that my approach to youth leadership or teaching would involve the use of semi-automatic weapons.

    On that basis - sounds like you're well qualified.

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