Family Dinner

Dear Bloggers,

August is winding down and the school year is about to commence and I feel so far lost these days. Social media keeps shoving the beginning of the school year in my face, with posts of classrooms being set up, and "Timehop" photos of the past decade. I am still, unemployed and feel even farther from prospects than ever. Each day it is a relentless task of clearing out my inbox to sort job matches and file away letters stating “Thank you for your interest but …”.

My biggest cheerleader, my sister, who, for years, has been trying to convince me to go corporate, made a comment a few days ago that has been echoing in my head on a continuous loop since. It was innocent, and it wasn’t even directed towards me. She probably doesn’t even remember saying it. But it was one of those moments that I felt as if all of the air was sucked from my lungs as my chest imploded. She was talking about an old friend and made a comment that her husband was “only a teacher”. There it is. That condescending tone that teachers are lesser than the rest of the work force. This crushed me. And so, I ended the night driving home while sobbing. If the one person who supposedly believed most in me that I could successfully make this transition didn’t really believe it herself - it only amplifies my own doubts.

So what am I doing? Staying off of social media and buying lots of wine.


Sincerely,

The Frustrated ex-teacher