For the third time in my adult life I have found myself packing up my things, turning in my keys, saying goodbye to coworkers and having no real idea what I’m going to do next. I’m a bit too working class to completely celebrate this change without the anxiety of not knowing where the next paycheck might come from. It would seem that if anything is consistent in the course of my life, it’s change that requires some form of leaving.  How do you deal with leaving? Are you the kind of person who is more anxious or excited? That’s right, the teaching job is over, but I’m still posting another JBB’s Daily Reflection Prompt. Enjoy and please feel free to share your stories of change and leaving.

My coworkers expressed their good hearted jealousy at my retirement from teaching. The annual classroom closure isn’t anything of note except that most years, and especially in the years before leaving California in 2008, it took me several days if not weeks to get the cleanup  job done. But closing up to never return is something different than just moving all of the tables and chairs to one side of the room so that the custodian crews can clean the carpeting. As noted in the prompt I’ve done this three times before with no clue about what I was going to do for work. 

The first time I left my job with no clear plans was when I left the phone company in 1994. The company was in a huge downsizing process and being the one of the workers on my area with the least seniority (with 15 year!) I knew it was time to go. I got six-months full pay severance. Fortunately I landed a teaching job within three months. The road was more than a little bumpy but I landed in my feet (eventually). 

When I left my teaching job in California in 2008, I had the job at Full Sail University in Florida, so it was a big change but I knew what was next. 

But when I was let go by Full Sail University in 2014 I had no warning, got three months severance and it took seven months to get the Full Sail Labs job for much less pay. Life changing experiences gained at Full Sail Labs but insufficient pay to be sustainable long term. Thus I found myself leaving Full Sail Labs in August 2016, and moving back across country to take the job teaching STEAM at an elementary school in CCSD. 

When I switched from teaching STEAM to robotics in 2020 it was a crazy mid-pandemic time but planned. So this brings us up to date to now. Clearly, except for the 15-years with the phone company, I changed jobs much more frequently than the typical public school educator. I’m sure this has something to do with teaching technology related fields. 

It isn’t easy, it requires a lot of concentration and effort, but this is a huge opportunity for me to realize a life long desire to make a living doing journalism and/or writing. I was looking at my online resume (https://joebustillos.com/joe-bustillos-resume/) and I saw a lot of years in the classroom but not too much evidence of a life of writing and reflection. I guess I need to work on that. 

This isn’t hypothetical. I’ll be getting my CCSD paychecks and keep my insurance until July 31st, then I better have something ready to go. Needless to say, except for not waking up at 5:30 tomorrow, I won’t be taking any time “off” until I’ve secured gainful “employment.” Happy “retirement” to me!