Feeling at Peace in a New Era
After 26 years, this is the first year that I won’t be going ‘back to school.’ While it feels a little strange, I feel confident to say that I feel at peace about it.
I didn’t always feel at peace about it though. In fact if you were to tell me that I would leave teaching (or as I prefer to say, “retire”) a year ago I don’t think I would have felt at peace about it.
About two years ago when my husband Michael and I started talking about our future family we did talk about the possibility of me staying home. Both of us were blessed to have moms that were able to stay home with us during our first five years of life and both of us knew the positive effects of that experience. With that discussion came a lot of questions however. Some of those questions looked like the typical questions that most of us would ask when considering a job/life change but for myself the question that bubbled to the surface over and over again was: “But what will people think if I leave teaching?”
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job as an Agricultural Educator and FFA Advisor. I loved my students, I loved the variety-it was my dream job for a large chunk of my life. But when I realized that I was more concerned about what other people thought about me leaving teaching, that was a bit of a wake up call for me. ”
This thought process, this question that I clung to (and still try to sometimes today) wasn’t really thinking about our family. Nor was it really thinking about my role as a teacher. It was wrapped up in pleasing people that I didn’t even know. Even if I did know them, I’ve come to believe that nine times out of ten, people weren’t thinking, “wow I can’t believe she’s leaving us.” Nine times out of ten people weren’t even thinking about what I was doing haha
My point is you can’t live a life based on “but what will people think.” If we did, I think many of us would be missing out on some pretty amazing callings that God places on our hearts. Plus living lives that we think others want us to live instead of lives that we feel pulled to.
As I look at the prayer that I wrote on my mirror about 18 months ago that says, “pray for peace about what God would like our family to do regarding my career,” I can confidently say that God answered that prayer. I feel good about knowing that while I’m not going back to school, this new era (my mom era :)) is exactly where I’m meant to be-and I’m so grateful and ready for it.
I pray that if you are in a new life era, or hung up on the question of, “what will other people think?” that you would feel at peace with what God is calling you to do in this season. Because friend while it may not be easy, He knows that it’s worth it.
