ome of you may not know this but I used to work as a special needs teacher. I fell into it quite accidentally after teaching at a high school for one year. I decided I never, ever wanted to be near mainstream teenagers en masse ever again. It was like living in the land of angst and laziness. I worked my first day at a special needs school not long afterwards and never looked backed. I blame my immediate switch on this gorgeous little boy with Down Syndrome shrieking ‘PRINCESS HAIR!!!!’ in my face and attaching himself to my curls for the remainder of the day. What a little charmer right? So cute.
Many years into my career, I met a very lovely lady at one of the schools I taught at. She’d been a teacher’s aid for 20 years. She really wanted to go into counselling but she was supporting her boyfriend and herself on her teacher’s aid salary (and yes, we will come back to the sponging boyfriend) and couldn’t afford to quit or study. She was fabulous at her job but her heart wasn’t in it.
I spent a lot of time planting seeds about a career change whenever we worked together. I’m a bit sneaky like that. I just think career dissatisfaction is soul destroying and I’m convinced it makes you age prematurely.
‘How’s Craig?’ I’d ask.
She’d reply ‘Urgh! He’s still a jerk. I should just ditch him.’
‘You’d save yourself a hell of a lot of money…’
And then one of the kids would start throwing their clothes out the window and we’d leave the topic to rest until the next time I saw her.
I haven’t seen this lady in about three years but she updated her Facebook status the other day…
‘Just completed my diploma of counselling in the same week that I move into my new apartment!’
Can I get a resounding hell yeah for how awesome this is?
She spent 20 years craving her dream career but she thought it was too hard and too late to make a change. Somewhere along the way she got up the gumption to get rid of what was tying her down (freeloading boyfriend) and she created the space in her life for the good shit.
I just loved reading her status so much I wanted to share it with you guys just in case you need a bit of a push.
If there’s something you’ve always wanted to do and you’ve been thinking about it for ages, do it.
Train to be a midwife.
Join a band.
Get your masters degree.
Adopt a dog.
Paint your bedroom walls purple.
Tell your crush you like them.
Take belly dancing classes.
Nothing is ever a waste of time if it’s leading towards a fulfilling life.
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Do you have anything you can’t stop thinking about? Anything that’s been niggling away at you?
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