The Best Decision I Ever Made
Tags: Short Story, Reflections, Energy, Prompt, Choices

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The Best Decision I Ever Made

I am going to take some liberty with Wednesday’s prompt to talk about one the most important decisions I have made in my entire life. Since I am retired and for the most part self-isolating, the biggest decision I make most days is what I am going to fix for dinner. I do admit that sometimes that decision might, in fact, involve choices about growth but it is the growth of my waistline usually.

Eleven years ago in January I finalized what might be the most important decision of my entire life. It was then that I formally signed the papers to retire from teaching after thirty-three years. I was fifty-five at the time. For fifty of those fifty-five years I was on one side or other of a classroom desk. For some of those years I was on both sides.

I loved teaching. I loved the impact that I could have on teenagers. I loved that I could help them on their journey into adulthood. I taught students. The subject matter involved mathematics, but make no mistake, I taught students. I hopefully taught them to think. I hopefully taught them to be themselves, I hope I taught them both healthy boundaries and compassion. If they learned some mathematics in the meantime that was a bonus. That happened often and I was very good at my job.

That was a big part of the decision at the time. I was a good teacher; I was respected by my students, my colleagues, the school system, and parents. I knew nothing else. I poured my heart and soul into my vocation. I identified as a teacher. I loved it so much that the year after I retired when I got a call from my principal about needing a part time teacher to teach two classes I didn’t even ask what the classes were before I told her I would do it.

I had a few concerns that didn’t involve my love of teaching. The first being money. Money was actually the main reason I decided to retire. The pension I would earn was about three-quarters the take home pay I was making when I taught. That meant that I was really teaching for a fourth of my salary. I was not spending that much any month so I knew I could afford the change financially.

The conversation I had with myself was about self-acceptance, self-improvement, and growth. I had for many years put my student’s needs ahead of my own. Even on adventures with my friend Gerry. If it conflicted with teaching then I was likely to say no. I was honestly afraid of change. I questioned whether I would still be me if I was no longer a teacher. I also knew deep down inside I was ready for a new chapter in my life.

I decided in January that the next chapter would be putting me first. I didn’t want to be bored and sitting at home all the time. It turns out I was right to not want that. 2020 has done a decent job of showing me what future that would be. I decided as the year neared an end that I would have to make appointments with myself. My first appointment was to go to the gym. I officially retired 1 July. I was in the gym 1 July. I was in the gym every day in July. I took it easy to start then did more and more as my body was ready. After July ended I began a program that lasted about five years where I went to the gym seven straight days then rested one. I decided on this formula due to the biblical reference. I decided that I needed to work harder so I could not rest on the seventh day.

The biggest benefit to this other than the obvious about improving my health was that I left the house. I spent time out in the work. I looked for new things to do. I looked to grow. Within a couple years I started teaching again, this time online teaching English to Russian speaking people using Skype. I enjoyed it very much. I do not do that anymore, but the first two students I have I still talk to regularly on Skype. We call it conversational English lessons although we just talk about life and such now. I met both of those wonderful people last year and the three of us had dinner at a nice little restaurant in Amsterdam.

The past year my journey of focusing on myself turned to spiritual growth. I have embraced it as I have so many others in these new chapters of my life. I am here because of all of you. I am here to tell you that the path for growth for me was to start this new chapter. If I had not, I would still be happy teaching I am sure. I would not have gown like I have however. Please embrace when you are ready. Like me even embrace it when you are not, but know it needs to happen for you to grow.