Life Is Too Short To Be Filled With Dread Every Sunday Night

OMG, it’s Leaving Teaching’s very first interview! I connected with Sara via Facebook, and was blown away by her generosity and thoughtfulness. I’m super inspired by her story and hope you are too!

Introduce yourself! Give us your name, location, number of years you spent teaching, what subject and grade level you taught, and number of years since you’ve left teaching.

My name is Sara Brand and I live in Stone Mountain, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. I taught for 12 years, mostly first grade but always early elementary school. I left the classroom at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, just a little over a year ago. 

Why did you become a teacher?

I started losing my hearing in second grade due to a genetic condition that causes deterioration of the auditory nerve. [That’s when] I became aware of the larger school outside my own classroom, as I met school audiologists, speech therapists, guidance counselors and administrators. As I got older, I participated in my own IEP meetings and learned how these people all worked together to provide education and care for students. I had thought about becoming a teacher before then, but as I grew older and my hearing grew worse, I knew that I wanted to teach students who were deaf or hard of hearing. 

As time went on though, I realized one problem—I didn’t know sign language. As my hearing worsened, my lip-reading abilities sharpened and I became aware that I would never need to rely on sign language to communicate. Of course, I could have learned ASL, but I was afraid I would never have the skills I needed to be able to relate to deaf students on a personal level. I decided then, in my second year of college at Georgia State University, to focus on general education and receive my bachelor’s in early childhood education.

I thought back to my own teachers in early elementary school and how they were the first ones to support me through this new challenge [of losing my hearing]. While teachers do not diagnose students, we are often the first ones who notice a challenge and call the team together to support a student. I was proud to be a part of that team. 

Briefly describe your experience teaching. What did you like about it? What did you find challenging or unfulfilling?

My favorite part of teaching is the same as everyone else’s—the kids. First graders are so full of enthusiasm. They love to laugh and you can’t help but laugh along with them. I taught in some rough areas during my time as a teacher, and for some kids it was clear that school was their safe space. They might act up, but I always knew it was because they felt safe enough to do so. I loved making them feel loved every day. 

I also loved watching them learn. I loved watching their faces light up when something just clicked. As a self-proclaimed data nerd, I loved watching their reading levels rise, their assessment scores go up, and their behavior charts improve. I always ended the school year confident that each and every child in my classroom had grown, both academically and as a person. That was an amazing feeling. 

The part I didn’t like about teaching was everyone else—the grown-ups. I never felt like teachers were seen as professionals who have degrees and experience in their craft. We were treated by administration much like children in a classroom: those assessment scores needed to go up, our behavior needed to improve. I don’t know of any other profession where someone comes in and watches you perform your job and scores you on how you did for those 20 minutes. 

The parents, for the most part, didn’t recognize us as professionals either... They didn’t come to us with questions the way they would a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant. They came with instructions that we were supposed to follow. 

What brought you to the decision to leave teaching? What was the breaking point?

My decision to leave the classroom came at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. The schools shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic that March and like everyone else, we were forced online. It was disorganized at first, of course… For those first few weeks, it was complete and total chaos. 

This was the thing though, I loved it… There weren’t any administrators dropping in to score us. In fact, we were told to scrap the end-of-the-year assessments because there was no way to administer them fairly. Finally, it was just me and my kids again. 

I actually thrived creating digital products for my students and instructional videos for parents who were struggling with the technology... I helped my less tech-savvy coworkers with their plans and shared my activities with them…

But then I started hearing my coworkers in the Zoom meetings and seeing their posts on social media: “I can’t wait to get back in the classroom!” I didn’t feel the same way. Not even a little bit. That was when I knew it was time to start transitioning out.  

What plans, if any, did you put in place before transitioning out of teaching? How and to what extent did you prepare for your transition? What fears, if any, did you have and how did you face those?

I was terrified to transition out, so I definitely took my time. I wanted to stay in education, but if I’m honest, that’s only because I didn’t think I would be qualified to go anywhere else.

I knew I wanted to get out of the classroom, so I focused on my strengths with technology. [I also had a] side hustle as a blogger for the last eight years, so I thought I could combine [my] tech-savviness and passion for education into one career I would love. 

I started by applying for Masters’ programs in Instructional Technology... It took two long years to get my Master’s degree and over the course of that time, I dreaded going to school more and more each day. I started to question if I would really be happy doing [instructional technology]. That’s when I decided to focus my sights on working for a curriculum company, running PDs at schools that were adopting curriculum to teach [teachers] how to use tech tools. This would allow me to travel to different places, work from home sometimes, and truly get out of the traditional school setting. 

We all know that in teaching you have to announce your exit way before you make it. In my school system, you have to sign a declaration of intent to return (or not) the following school year in February, a whopping six months before the next school year actually begins! It was still four months before I would [finish] grad school, so this was scary for me. But I was confident I would find something, so I bit the bullet and told them I would not be returning the next year. 

What specific factors did you have to consider in your transition? Did you have financial responsibilities, such as dependants, student loan debt, etc? Is there any type of privilege that aided your transition, such as a spouse or family member who supported you, contacts in other industries, etc? 

I had quite a bit to consider, but not as much as others. I live with my boyfriend of five years and he has two grown children, one of whom is still at home… I have my own house across town, but a renter lives there and that covers the mortgage and puts a bit of money in my pocket. I help with the mortgage here at our house, but my boyfriend’s military veteran benefits could always cover that if I was unable to do so. 

The biggest privilege I had was my blog. I had been running a successful food blog for eight years with my mom when I decided to make the transition out of the classroom. This gave me not only extra income, but also another career avenue completely unrelated to educaton. 

Tell us about your first year out of the classroom. What lessons did you learn? What successes did you have? What challenges did you face? What, if anything, would you have done differently?

My first year out of the classroom really began that February when I announced I would not be returning. Though it was still several months before I would receive my Master’s degree, I began applying for jobs far and wide… sometimes 10 per day. I looked at everything from higher education to curriculum companies to tech companies and everything in between. I don’t want to scare anyone by saying this, but the reality is that by the time August rolled around, I had not gotten a single call, email, or interview. Not one.

In my school district, that last paycheck for the school year comes September 1st, so I was definitely starting to get nervous. 

I wondered [if my experience as a blogger could] soften the blow if I didn’t find a job in the next few weeks. I was still confident that I would get [a job], but I wanted a safety net... That’s when I decided to post in a Facebook group for bloggers and ask if anyone needed a writer. 

My inbox completely blew up. I got around 80 DMs in the next few hours, with bloggers eager to work with me. I had to backtrack then because I posted it with no plan at all, unsure anyone would respond. So now I had to answer questions like, “What will I charge,” and “How do I write a freelancer contract,” and “How am I going to keep this all organized?” A smarter person would say I should have answered those questions for myself first, but… how was I to know how popular the post would be? 

That was the day I became a freelancer. I never applied for another “real job” again. And, if you’re wondering, no one ever called me from those thousands of resumes I sent out. 

Leaving education was difficult because there were so many things I had never had to do for myself before. Deciding my own pay and my own schedule sounds cushy, but when no one has ever asked you, how do you answer? When I first began working for myself, I had to set myself alarms to remind me to take a break. But then, I realized I was waiting for those alarms like they were the bells at school. “You’ve had to pee for 30 minutes now… just go! No one is watching you.” It took a long time to figure that out. 

And then there were the benefits. In my school system, you get two or three choices every year for your medical insurance and, if I’m honest, I’ve always gotten my dad to pick it for me. But now I had to choose between all the insurance plans. And no one ever told me how expensive they were. 

Then there were the taxes. My dad had always done my taxes before, but now that I had income from a rental property, a blog, and a freelance business, he said it was over his head. I needed to hire a CPA… (I’m still not entirely sure what CPA stands for.)

Once I got the CPA, I asked him about retirement. My school system opted out of social security and instead had a teachers’ retirement fund we all paid into. Did I need to start paying social security now? Where was the money I’d been putting in all these years? He told me those were questions for a financial advisor. So now I had to get one of those. 

Those first few months were a complete whirlwind. I felt unsure every step of the way, but I also grew in confidence with each new challenge I conquered. I set myself up for financial success, got some long-term clients I still work with today, and created a schedule that allowed me to be both happy and productive. 

What are you currently doing for work? What do you like about your current career or job? How does it compare to classroom teaching?

The short answer is I’m a writer… The long version is that… I am a writer for a recipe site, a travel site (I just started that one this year!), and a ghostwriter for bloggers. I also recently started a coaching business for brand-new bloggers, but it’s more my way of giving back (and, ok, my way of continuing to teach) and doesn’t earn me much money yet. 

The biggest thing I have gotten from this career change is power. No one is looking over my shoulder anymore, taking notes on how effective I am, or ticking off how many times I was late this year, or how many PTA meetings I showed up for. 

I keep myself on a pretty strict schedule from eight am to four pm, every day. That said, that time includes four-to-five hours of focused work, and the rest of the time I spend at the gym, eating my lunch (as slowly as I can—I’m still working on my table manners after twelve years of eight-minute lunches), taking care of housework, reading a book (for fun! Can you imagine?), or whatever else I need to do to fill my cup. 

I also give myself days off. None of my clients even have my phone number. They give me work at the beginning of the month, and I get it done by the end of the month, so no one knows when I “should be” working, and no one is coming looking for me. If I want to go hiking for the day, sleep late, or go on a trip, I just do it, and I don’t need anyone else’s permission. What a feeling!

I still miss the kids some days, especially right now, when I see my teacher friends on social media setting up their new classrooms. But I love [having] the power to make my working environment whatever I want it to be. Want total silence? You got it. Want to listen to heavy metal? No problem. I have nieces and nephews I can spend time with if I really need a day of goofiness with kiddos, but I love that my work day is my own. 

What skills and knowledge from teaching were you able to utilize in your new career? What gaps in skills or knowledge did you have, and how did you address those?

Organization is the biggest tool a teacher has in their toolbox. Having 80 client inquiries all at once was overwhelming, but only for a minute. If you’ve been teaching for long, you know that in just a couple hours, you can have that organized in a spreadsheet and a color-coded calendar, and be ready to roll. I even used Sign-Up Genius to schedule my onboarding meetings, parent-teacher conference style. 

We are also very resilient as teachers. Curve balls don’t phase us. New curriculum mid-school year? Sure. Combining classrooms for the day? Why not? We can roll with the punches and keep on moving better than I think anyone else could from any other career. That skill makes us invaluable. 

We’re also self-starters. Think about all the things no one told you to do, but you do it anyway… 

What, if anything, could have kept you in the classroom? What, if anything, could ever lure you back?

I’m not sure anything could have kept me there other than a complete and total change in culture. The way teachers are seen by parents and administrators was the challenge for me. It wasn’t the salary or the schedule or anything concrete that could be addressed in a school board meeting. It was about respect and the way we respect a group of people...

Now that I’ve worked for myself, I don’t think I could ever go back to teaching or any other career where I have to report to others. Having all the power is scary because if I fail, it’s no one’s fault but my own. But when I succeed, I know it’s all me. I don’t have to fight to get what I need or what I deserve anymore, and that’s the greatest feeling of all. 

Finally, what advice, tips, or wisdom do you have to share with current teachers considering a career transition? Is there anything in specific you wish you’d known or prepared for?

The most challenging thing for me was figuring out taxes, insurance, and retirement. But if you are transitioning from teaching to another [salaried] career that won’t be as big of an issue. If you plan to start your own business or begin freelancing, I would definitely recommend figuring out those pieces of the puzzle first. 

I wish I could offer advice on how to find a job or tweak your resume… but none of that advice worked for me. I had to look at the skills I had developed outside of teaching, and think about what truly mattered in my life, and make my own path. 

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to listen to yourself. If you aren’t happy, you have to make a change... Life is too short to be filled with dread every Sunday night. If that’s you, then it’s time to get out.

Check out Sara’s business writing across her various platforms:

Biscuits & Burlap (food blog) www.biscuitsandburlap.com

Discovering Coastal Georgia (travel site) www.discoveringcoastalgeorgia.com

Sara Brand Services (freelance business) www.sarabrandservices.com