Sunrise, Sunset

Yesterday, I left my job. Possibly my career.

Teaching has always been one of those things I know I’m good at but don’t know if I enjoy. It’s a career that comes with a heavy burden, and the burden’s load has multiplied throughout my career. But this is not a why-I-left-teaching blog or post. This is a launchpad, the dock from which I depart. I taught for something like ten or fifteen years — believe me, you stop counting when you don’t want to know how long it’s actually been — but started talking about quitting when I student taught.

I guess you could say it took me a while to get here. And part of the reason why it took so long was that lingering question of “What else can I do?” if I’m not teaching. {Insert empty stare at a blank page. Add overwhelm and shut down.} I felt trapped. So, each day, I woke up at 5:30, got to work at 7:15, and did my job. Well. Until now.

Now I leave teaching, I leave my home, I leave my culture, and, to a certain extent, I leave my language. I suppose what I am saying is I am leaving my comfort zone, my safety net. Teaching was something safe to make sure I could earn a living. Without it, I feel weightless, floating without the help of gravity to hold me, unsure of which direction I might go, what wall I might bump into, and which direction that new momentum may take me.

Many people call that exciting.

I do not belong in the “many.”

So it is with these words that I declare the first step of my unmoored journey: we are moving to Switzerland.

Don’t worry. I’ll bring you along for the ride.

How did I get here and what comes next? Find out in the Chapter 1 posts. Next is Leg 1: The Lead