Tuesday's follow up
It's complicated
If you read the last post and felt seen, unsettled, relieved, defensive, inspired, or some complicated cocktail of all five—good. That’s kind of the point. If you’re not interested in teaching writing, you can without guilt move on to the next thing on your list today. Enjoy it.
Ok, for those still here…
Teaching has a way of asking us questions we don’t get to answer all at once. Sometimes not for years. Sometimes never. For those of us following an academic calendar, winter break with all its chaos and exhaustion, is one of the few moments when we’re allowed to think without immediately having to do something about it.
So here’s a small, low-stakes follow-up.
Write a Letter to Yourself
Choose one of the following and write for about 300–500 words. You can be messy. You can be honest. You can contradict yourself.
Option A: Dear Future Teacher Me
Write to yourself five years from now, assuming you are teaching.
What do you hope you remember about why you started?
What do you hope you didn’t let fear, impostor syndrome, or exhaustion take from you?Option B: Dear Me Who Chose Another Path
Write to yourself five years from now, assuming you didn’t go into teaching.
What do you hope you carried with you from this moment anyway?
What do you hope you never believed about yourself just because you walked away?
This is for you to do with as you please.
Optional
If you want to share one sentence publicly, respond in the comments. No context, no explanation, just finish one of these and post it in the comments.
“If I teach, it will be because __________.”
or
“If I don’t teach, it won’t be because I didn’t __________.”
That’s it.
No one ends up in teaching the same way. No one stays for the same reasons. And no one owes the profession a martyr narrative to justify belonging.
Take your time. Be kind to yourself. And write like it matters, because it does, even if you never show it to anyone.