When I sat down to consider my reflection of 2011, I realised the year started off from quite a challenging place.
Unemployed!
In Januray 2011 I found myself without a job. Teaching had just got too much for me. I had put my resignation letter into the head teacher after I had come back from South Africa with my students in October the previous year.
Well, I did actually resign from my ‘head of the social committee’ job first. This tells you how seriously I took on the role of ensuring my colleagues all had a good time. We had crazy wine tastings (where CCTV caught 3 of us on a bicycle) and the famous Friday night pub evenings.
Teaching had drained me of who I was, who I wanted to be and who I could be for my students. I was condemned for leaving in the middle of the academic year, but I just had to go….
The time was ‘now’ – no better time.
They say things come in threes – and it did. In January I was jobless, and I became single, which also meant I was out of a home. The three most stressful things an adult can deal with, all at the same time.
It was such a tough time!
What I Learnt
At the time, these situations felt like the world had stopped turning. But in actual fact it was an opportunity for me to regenerate. It was time to find me again, and to give me space to start fresh.
I also realised how committed I can be to a decision. I am prepared to put myself in a tricky situation simply because I do not like this as they are. There was no way I was going to stay in teaching even though I had no job to go to. And didn’t even know what I was going to do with my life. I was not going to ‘play safe’. I needed to walk away from something that was not good for me, and I did, without hesitation or over- thinking.
We didn’t get to visit Swellendam on the South African trip with my Sixth Formers, but it should be on every itinerary. It is a gem!
