Episode 63: Ready to Quit Teaching? Is Leaving the Classroom a Dream from God or Are You Just Dealing with Teacher Burn-Out?

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Y’all. Can you believe that this is the last episode of 2021? How in the Sam heck are we in December? I don’t even know. Where did this year go? There will not be an episode next Tuesday. I’m gonna be taking the extra time to love on my family and just pour into them. And I pray that you do the same, so you won’t have an episode next week, but we will be coming back super strong for 2022. Before we do dive into this episode, I wanna invite y’all to sign up for the free workshop I’m going to be hosting in January, called “The Number One Way to Leave Teaching in Six Months or Less”. This workshop is going to be starting on Thursday, January 13th, at 6:00 PM Eastern time. And during this workshop, you’re gonna learn exactly how you can replace your teaching income from home, with your babies by your side, and finally pay off that debt and take those dream family vacations. There will also be a replay available for those who register. So make sure to sign up for the workshop at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop. I can’t wait to see you there.

(02:22):
So one of the biggest questions that I get from a lot of teachers who are just wondering if it’s time to leave the classroom is this question: “Is my desire to leave teaching just because I’m burnt out, or is God calling me somewhere else for a reason?” So in today’s episode, I wanna help you distinguish between the two and help you figure out if it’s time for you to take that first step into ditching the classroom. Number one, have you prayed about it? I’m talking ongoing prayer, not just one prayer that you did one time. I want you to continually, you know, at least for 21 days, three weeks, that’s what I’m asking.

(03:17):
I want you to try to pray about this at least once a day, because it takes a little while sometimes for us to really hear God’s answers and he might be giving them to us in a way that we don’t expect. So I really want you to make sure you’re doing that ongoing prayer. Bonus step is if you journal out your prayers, and that way you can date it, and you can really keep track of whether this is an ongoing issue or an ongoing desire place on your heart, or whether you were just being a drama queen that day, ’cause mama, mama, I got those days, we all have those days. Sometimes we’re just a little dramatic and we come back the next day and we’re like, “God, sorry, I don’t know what I was talking about.” But if this is an ongoing issue and a desire place on your heart, that God’s giving you for a reason, you wanna be able to keep track of that. And sometimes that’s really hard to keep track of when we just pray orally. So it’s a lot easier to track if you can write it down and then you’ll be able to go back and see, you know, what did I pray about a month ago?

(04:24):
Number two, I want you to ask yourself, has God given you any signs that this isn’t where you’re meant to be? A lot of times, if we just ask Him for a sign, He’s gonna show us. And sometimes it’s really helpful if you ask for a sign that you wouldn’t normally see and that if you see that sign, you know God has given you an answer. Okay? So one thing I did recently, I was praying about something and I’m like, “God, I just need an answer on this.” And you know what? I’ve never ever seen a, a real live fox in my entire life, except for maybe at a zoo, but like no wild foxes ever cross my path.

(05:08):
And I’m like, you know what? If this is a yes from you allow me to see a fox, however that may be. And then literally three days later, a fox crossed the street in front of me, in my car. Like, so ask for a sign that you might not normally see, don’t make it too off the wall, but ask for a sign that you might not normally see. Another one in something that I was not expecting at all. I was praying about something else, asked for a sign. I’m like, God, show me a caterpillar, ’cause we don’t really have caterpillars. I mean, I live full time in an RV. So we are kind of like, we have some nature around us, but I never ever, ever see a caterpillar. So I’m like, show me a caterpillar. So I know that I’m on the right track. And I didn’t see a real life caterpillar. But I took my daughter to the gym and I dropped her off at the daycare, and sitting right next to the sign in sheet was a stack of drawings some of the kids had done and they were drawing caterpillars. Like, what the heck? He works in such crazy ways. It’s so cool. So ask for that sign. Ask for that sign to know if it’s time for you to take that next step out of the classroom, then number three, we’re gonna go back to the basics. I want you to create a pros and cons list of you leaving and pursuing the desire on your heart. So get a piece of paper, make a pros and cons list. I’m gonna challenge you to at least get 20 pros and 10 to 20 cons. Okay? ‘Cause sometimes the pros of leaving are a little harder to think about. So I’m gonna challenge. I’m gonna push you to get 20 and the cons, I mean, we always are stuck. A lot of us are stuck in our fear so we can think of all the reasons we shouldn’t. Those are a little easier to think of. So 10 to 20 of those, but 20 of the pros are what I want you to come up with. And for accountability, you can come and share that in the Facebook group, facebook.com/groups/ditchtheclassroom.

(07:17):
Now, the next thing that I want you to consider is if you don’t pursue the dream on your heart, will you regret it? Will others suffer? So if you continue to be a teacher when you’re burned out and you just don’t have the energy for it anymore, will your students suffer? Rather than having someone who might, you know, not be burned out and have the energy they need to pour into them, or maybe, maybe your students are still getting the best of you, but maybe your kids at home are suffering and they’re not getting the best of you because you’re so drained by the time you get home. So if you pursued this dream and you left the classroom, your kids would be better off. So these are all things that I really want you to consider. And I really want you to think, “If I don’t follow this dream, am I going to regret this?”

(08:17):
Alright, so those are my four different ways to figure out if leaving the classroom is a dream from God, or if you’re just dealing with teacher burnout. Let me recap them for you. We’re gonna pray about it. And that’s an ongoing prayer bonus points. If you journal-pray so you can keep track. We’re going to ask God for a sign of whether it’s time to leave or not. And a sign we don’t usually see, but that’s not like super impossible. I don’t know God can do some crazy impossible things. So maybe you wanna ask him for an impossible sign, but I typically do something I just wouldn’t usually see. And then, what are the pros and cons of you leaving versus not leaving? I want you to make that list. And then I want you to ask yourself, if you don’t pursue the dream on your heart, will you regret it and/or will others suffer?

(09:17):
All right, let me close us out in prayer. Father, thank you so much for giving me the words to speak to these amazing women who are listening to this episode today. I pray that it spoke to them and that if this message was for them, that they hear it loud and clear and that they take that time to really decipher whether this is a dream that’s been placed on their heart for them, or whether they’re just having a hard day and they’ll be better tomorrow. Father, I love You so incredibly much. We all love You so incredibly much. And we know that You have our best interests at heart. And I just pray that each of us have the courage to follow You wherever You’re leading us. Thank You for a great year. Even though I know it’s had some big challenges, I pray that it’s had a lot of wins for the listeners as well. And I pray that we all have an amazing, amazing, amazing 2022. In Your name, Amen. All right. Y’all I love you so, so, so much, and I will see you next year.