I meet a lot of teachers.
From working in schools I realised that it took a special kind of person to be dedicated to the success of others in place of their own… dedication and sacrifice.
Although I always celebrated the success of my students I never took my eye off the long game that I wanted to play.
My own freedom. My time to enjoy the world with my family with an online business that supported us and offered us the flexibility to live the life we wanted.
Working as a teacher can trap you. Before you know it years have passed and you start considering the pension pay off. It can be tough. But hey, it’s a job, right?
I see a lot of despair and hear a lot of sighs in the staff room. People with frustrations and demanding schedules. Pressure to perform with an unknown dynamic such as young people.
Yearning always for the next holiday. honestly we get back to work after a week off and people start saying, ‘Only 6 weeks left!’ It’s a joke but within it lies a desperate edge of unhappiness and drudgery.
I sometimes let it go, play along and nod in agreement. At other times I sense the need to talk.
When that happens I often come round to the same question. What do you really want to do?
After a pause there is always a story and it’s always about choices. A turning point, the one where they took the safer option. The one where they thought about the sensible option. Teaching is the sensible, safer option for many.
But there is always a story of where their heart really lies. Some can make their heart sing through their teaching work, I certainly love helping people get started online.
Yet for many, the light behind their dreams has dimmed. And teaching is just a reminder to many of what could have been. They say that when you teach you are the truest learner. That through explaining something you really begin to understand it.
That is certainly true as long as you are teaching something that you are passionate about. That you want to understand more. That you love. If you don’t then that question can guide you to the future and pen up a new way of thinking. Think about it. Take a chance to listen to the small voice that sits right at the centre of your core. Telling you its truth.
You ask the same question in any number of professions I’m sure. Unhappy bankers, miserable doctors, despairing accountants. Hearing the question for the first time can help you wake up.
When I started making websites and building an online business I realised that I had found something that echoed my passion for music. When I first hit publish on a WordPress post and saw the result go live I had the same connection as when I left work to play music full time.
A sense of play, wonder and timeless engagement with the potential of what was in front of me.
Building an online platform is like a performance for me. I love the build up to hitting publish. I’m getting it now as I come to the end of this piece. As I wonder who might read it, who might get a life changing thought as a result.
And I smile at the possibility that they answer that question from their own truth, wake up and never look back.