Renewed Determination

In late September I started thinking about what papers I would need to gather to apply for teaching positions. I had decided that since nothing else was panning out that I needed to consider the possibility of a return to the teaching profession.

Just days later I got a call for another interview for a social work position. I thought the interview went well, until I received a letter in late October with the news that I didn't get the job.

Three years. Dozens of applications. Ten interviews. Zero job offers.

I felt defeated, no longer optimistic that I was destined to find employment in the social service field.

The holidays were just around the corner, so it made sense to take a break from the search for work. I had plenty to do and look forward to. The new year would be the time to start again.

And here we are in mid January. It's time.

Last week a friend helped me open a "Dropbox" account, a free website where you can store and then share documents and photos. On Saturday she helped me scan and save in "Dropbox" the documents I have only in paper form so I can submit online applications. She also printed applications for three local districts that still require paperwork to be submitted the old fashioned way, through the mail.

For now I will submit applications to school districts with the hope that I can get work as a substitute teacher. Job openings for next fall will be posted in the spring and summer, and I will have all my paperwork together to apply at that time. If nothing else, districts always need substitutes.

My resume looks splotchy for the last eight years. I will need to account for the two years I spent back in school and my attempt to change careers. It boils down to my feeling that I wanted to give myself a chance to do the work I've wanted to do for more than thirty years. If I didn't take a chance then, when would I do it?

I gave it my best shot. Now it's time to move on.

I have changed my perspective. The first time one of my children's teachers encouraged me to become a teacher, I was surprised. Then a friend shared with me a way to return to college to get a teaching degree. I liked the coursework, my classmates, and being in the classroom with students. The schedule coordinated with the life of my family, so I became a teacher...

with the thought that there would be time to do something different later.

Now I wonder if teaching chose me as much as I chose it. I wonder if the message is that I was on the right path all along. That path includes the return to school for an MSW and the time I have spent without a job. I have learned things about myself I never would have known without that part of the journey. I have changed in ways that I never would have considered possible.

Sometimes the desired goal is not the outcome. Sometimes "no" is the answer.

Message received.

The journey continues....