I KNOW HOW IT FEELS WHEN TEACHING ISN'T IT FOR YOU ANYMORE BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.
I enjoyed my students and my work. I was good at my job. I was proud of what I'd built with the degrees and certifications, the reputation, and the years of honing my craft to become the teacher I was. So much of who I was became wrapped up in what I did that I hadn't seen myself as anything outside of being a teacher in a long time.
When I realized I wanted something more than teaching, I didn't know what to do with that information.
I just kept telling myself, "I don't even know what else I'd do."
So that was that, and the conversation was over because I wasn't asking myself a question. I wasn't exploring. I was shutting myself down before I could even start.
NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE GRIEF AND CONFUSION THAT COME WITH CAREER TRANSITIONS.
I told myself something was wrong with me. I told myself I should just be happy like everyone else. I told myself to be more grateful because my life was really good. I had a great husband, a daughter I loved, a career I'd worked hard to build and was proud of, and students and a community who I cared about and who depended on me. I told myself this would settle and that I'd feel like myself again in the fall, or after the holidays, or next year.
But the thoughts didn't go away. Instead, they got louder.
So I started keeping myself really busy to outrun them. But when I'd lie in bed at night, my husband already sound asleep, my mind would spin with chaos and confusion. It was like a tornado of thoughts and feelings I couldn't grab onto. And underneath the chaos was something I didn't want to admit. I was starting to feel jealous of and resentful toward my husband. He had a business and was doing the work he'd always wanted to do. He wasn't experiencing any doubt or confusion because he knew exactly who he was and what he was building.
I felt ashamed for even thinking this so I shoved that down too and kept it to myself.
I'd try to picture myself teaching fifteen years down the road and I couldn't. There was no clear vision. That was the most unsettling part of all.
I TRIED TO SHOVE IT DOWN.
For years after, I did what a lot of smart, responsible teachers do when they feel this way.
Maybe I'm meant to be an educator but not in the traditional way that's always been modeled to me.
What else could be possible?
Could I build a business where I coach, teach, and make an impact outside the traditional school setting?
I didn't figure this out overnight. There was no secret I finally found or perfect plan I followed that worked right away.
But I did decide to stop thinking about it more and instead start taking action and experimenting.
I earned my master's degree in professional school counseling so I could better help my students with what they were carrying emotionally, not just academically. I took on an additional role mentoring new teachers, providing them with professional development and mentorship and working more closely with my administrative team. And I gained some really valuable information...
I took a detour into elementary teaching and learned an equally valuable lesson... teaching high school was a much better fit for me. But the combination of elementary and high school experience qualified me for an instructional coaching role that opened up in our district. So I applied and got it.
And that was the first real step in loosening my grip on my identity as a teacher. I became an educator. I was using all the skills I'd built, learning new, valuable skills, and I was still making an impact on kids, but through adults this time.
That's when something shifted and I started having new thoughts.
Then I sat in a professional development session not long after and watched a speaker teaching, presenting, and telling stories that moved people to take action. And I realized he was doing that in his own way which opened the door wide open for me to do that too.
I HAVE THE SKILLS TO WORK WITH ADULTS.
AND I ENJOY THAT TOO.
Then I decided to hire a coach to help me sort out my ideas, get clarity, and
start building something of my own in a smart, strategic way.
So I started coaching one client on the side in the evenings while my job coaching teachers for my district gave me the stability to experiment without pressure. I added more clients and continued to do that for two years before I was ready to close the door on my career in education and go out on my own.
I wasn't irresponsible. I didn't quit dramatically or recklessly burn anything down.
I just kept taking the next small step, and then the next one, and then the next until the work I was building on the side became the work I was ready to move into full-time.
SHE CONFIRMED WHAT I WANTED TO BELIEVE...
I COULD DO THIS.
HERE'S WHAT I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN.
Once I stopped holding on so tightly to something I'd already outgrown, once I let myself be in the process of exploring instead of needing to look like I had it perfectly figured out, it all started making sense.
Gradually, the chaos quieted.
The resentment softened.
The tornado in my head stopped spinning at full speed.
I stopped trying to talk myself out of what I was feeling and started treating it as valuable information.
Then I was able to be open enough to start building something that actually fit who I was becoming. Something that felt more true.
Now I help women who've outgrown their teaching careers move through this transition process and get clarity about what's next.
I don't use assessments or five-year plans or tell you what to do. I help you figure out what you want through honest conversations, strategic questions, and small low-risk experiments that give you real information instead of more unexplored ideas.
My clients don't all end up in the same place. Some pivot inside their current school districts. Some change direction completely. Some build something on the side. And some stay in their current teaching roles, but differently.
What's consistent is that they stop shutting themselves down before they can even ask the questions that allow them to explore what they've outgrown and consider what they want next.
If you've been hearing that same quiet voice telling you there has to be more and shutting yourself down every single time you hear it, I've been there.
You've outgrown what you built and don't know what's next. That's not a problem to fix.
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IT'S SOMETHING TO EXPLORE AND FIGURE OUT.
AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE.
“For over 5 years I kept thinking there had to be more but I didn’t know what else I’d do. It kept me stuck for years.
What I got from working with Katrina wasn’t the perfect answer, it was the confidence to start taking action."