u/Objective-Outcome466

I’m a second year teacher and we’re currently in our staff work week before students come back. I genuinely thought I could come back and make it through another year, but after the last couple of days I’m seriously questioning whether I can do this.

Last year was really difficult for me and I ended the year extremely burnt out. I was moved to a different grade for this year because of staffing/budget reasons, and while I agreed to it at the time, looking back I think I should have been more honest with myself that it wasn’t what I wanted.

I worked at a restaurant/bar over the summer and honestly loved it. I could go to work, do my job, have fun with my coworkers, and then go home and not think about work anymore. As getting back to school got closer, though, my anxiety got progressively worse. It got bad enough that I restarted an anxiety medication I had been trying to taper off of.

Now I’m actually back at school and it’s worse than I expected. I’ve been nauseous, shaky, crying, feeling like I can barely breathe, and just completely overwhelmed. The kids aren’t even here yet. We’ve also had several conversations during meetings about how teaching is basically a job where you’re never really “off the clock,” plus committees, events, data collection, etc., and all I can think is that I don’t know if I can live like that for another year.

I feel incredibly guilty about leaving. My family literally spent hours helping me set up my classroom this weekend. People have bought things for my classroom. Coworkers/admin have advocated for me and helped me. I know leaving right before school starts would put the school in a horrible position, and that guilt is probably the biggest thing keeping me here.
At the same time, I don’t think staying solely because I feel guilty is fair to my students either. I want them to have a teacher who can actually be present and give them what they deserve, and right now I feel like I’m barely functioning just trying to be in the building.
I do have another career plan. I’m completing prerequisites for an MRI technologist program and may be able to apply for a January start. If I leave teaching, my plan would be to work at my summer job as much as possible and get another job to make up the rest of my income while I finish my prerequisites. So I wouldn’t be quitting with absolutely no direction, but I would be giving up my salary/benefits and taking a risk.

I’ve reached out to my doctor and a counseling center because I know the level of anxiety I’m experiencing needs to be addressed regardless of what I decide.
I guess I’m looking for advice from people who have been here. If you felt this strongly before students even arrived, did it get better once the year actually started? If you resigned right before or early in the school year, do you regret it? And at what point do you accept that pushing through isn’t necessarily the best choice?

I don’t want people to just tell me what I want to hear. I genuinely don’t know whether I need to give it more time or listen to what my body is telling me and step away.

I’m looking for advice from people who knew they were ready to leave teaching before they actually made the transition.

I just finished my first year teaching 4th grade. Because of budget/staffing, there wasn’t room for three 4th grade teachers next year, so I was moved to 2nd grade. When I found out, I had to decide whether to find a job in another district, stay and move to a grade level I never wanted to teach, or leave teaching entirely. At the time, I ultimately decided to stay.

Now we’re about a month from school starting and two weeks from when I can get into my classroom, and the closer it gets, the more anxious I am. I genuinely would give anything to not have to go back.
I also don’t want to be the person who quits a month before school starts and leaves my school scrambling to replace me. I know how much that would affect everyone else, and realistically, I don’t think that’s what I’m going to do. But that leaves me with the bigger question: how do I get through another entire school year when I’m already dreading it this much?

This summer I’ve been working at the restaurant where my boyfriend serves, and honestly, it’s been the best couple of months I’ve had in a while. I go to work, laugh, have fun with my coworkers, feel useful and needed, and then I clock out and work is over. I don’t think about it again until my next shift. It has made me realize how much of my life and mental energy teaching was taking from me.

I’ve also finally started making a real plan to transition out of education. I’m starting classes this semester toward becoming an MRI tech. I meet with an advisor this week to get registered and start scheduling job shadowing, so this isn’t just a vague “maybe someday I’ll leave teaching” feeling anymore. I’m actively working toward something else.

Financially, I know keeping my teaching job while I work toward that certification is probably the smartest choice. I would have a steady paycheck and benefits while taking classes, and hopefully by next school year I’d be in a position to leave teaching entirely.

But I’m struggling with how to mentally approach this year.

Everyone around me keeps telling me to “just be positive,” go into it with a good attitude, and maybe I’ll end up loving 2nd grade. I know they mean well, and I’m trying not to go into the year determined to hate it. But I’m having a really hard time forcing myself into a positive outlook when the actual circumstances haven’t changed. I’m making essentially the bare minimum teacher salary for my state, I’ve been moved into a grade level I never wanted to teach because of budget cuts, and I’ve realized that I don’t think teaching is the career I want anymore.
It feels less like I need to “change my mindset” and more like I need to figure out how to make this final year sustainable.

So for those of you who knew you were leaving and already had your next step in motion, what did you do?
Did you stay for one final year while you got everything lined up? Are you glad you did?
How did you stop giving teaching your entire life when you knew it wasn’t your long-term career anymore? Did you truly work contract hours and leave it at school? Did you stop spending your own money? How did you handle the Sunday dread and the constant feeling that you didn’t want to be there?
And did knowing there was an actual end date make it easier?

I don’t want to make a panicked decision because I’m anxious about going back, and I don’t want to screw over my coworkers by leaving right before school starts. But I also don’t want to spend the next nine months miserable and constantly telling myself to “just be positive” when I already know I’m working toward leaving.

I think more than anything, I need advice on how to make one final year of teaching feel like a bridge to my next career instead of something I just have to survive.