The Teachers Went Back to Work Today (And I Am So Grateful I’m Not One of Them)

True fulfillment comes when you find your calling

Christina Piccoli

Aug 22, 2024

I’m sitting on the deck in the sun as I type this.

I just watched a bus drive by.

They’re practicing their routes before school starts on Monday.

The teachers went back to work today, preparing their classrooms and having meetings about the upcoming school year.

And I am so grateful to be sitting with my feet up in the sunshine writing this.

I worked at my kids’ elementary school for four years.

Even though it only paid $12.75 an hour, it was blissful.

I got to do fulfilling work. (I worked in special education as a teacher’s aide and helped kids who needed a little extra help with instruction.)

I was on my kids’ exact schedule.

I even got to see them in the halls and at recess sometimes.

My favorite days were field trip days. “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to hang out at the zoo with a bunch of kids!”

I loved that job.

Until…

It started with the kids being a little too comfortable around me.

I’m not great at discipline, and I didn’t feel it was my job to discipline. I was there to help the kids with their work.

Most of the kids I worked with had ADHD or dyslexia, and they were great to work with. Because they wanted to learn. They wanted to try their best.

But then we started getting more and more kids with behavior problems. These kids had a lot of issues and didn’t like school, didn’t want to be there, and certainly weren’t interested in learning.

(I don’t blame them. They make school so boring and useless for some of these kids. But that’s another topic for another day…)

I’m not trained in handling kids with behavior problems. This was very stressful.

Then I started feeling like “just an aide.” You realize how little respect you get from some of the teachers.

I finally decided to quit that job after 4 years.

I took a year off to pursue my dreams of making money online.

That didn’t work out.

So I went back to a different elementary school because a couple of my friends worked there.

I started right before the Coronavirus hit.

Those were some wild times, but I’m sure I don’t have to remind you.

I worked there for four years before the complete and utter dissatisfaction settled in again.

By the end of that time, I felt so unhappy and miserable.

I knew I wasn’t doing what I was meant to be doing.

I finally understood why after I discovered Human Design.

Screenshot taken by the author from this article.

And now as I see the busses drive by, as I text my friends “Good luck!” on their first day back, I feel so grateful.

I’m finally doing what I’m meant to be doing.

I’m not rolling in the big bucks (yet), but I feel settled. I feel fulfilled. I feel content.

My wish is that everyone on the planet finds the thing they’re meant to do. If you don’t know what that is, you can follow the clues.

Whatever you desire can be yours. (In fact, you desire it because it’s supposed to be yours.)

Find your calling and fulfill your purpose.

That’s what you’re here for.

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