Not a week passes during which someone will ask me if I would like to return to the advertising world. I am offered jobs frequently as well. When I look back at the life-changing opportunities I had as well as the incredibly gifted people I had the privilege to work alongside, I am not only grateful but also still in awe. How cool was my life? But two years after my early and unplanned departure from Osborn Barr, I can say with confidence that it was my last agency. Forever.
First, I am blessed to be a teacher. Eternally grateful for being given a chance to even try, I work every day to get better. The challenge never ends so the possibility of getting bored is non-existent. Everything I have done, whether it was career-oriented or related to my personal life, has ended in boredom. Teaching is not always thrilling or exciting but it is never boring.
Second, early on, I learned that creating solid relationships with students and building upon them throughout the year would be the foundation of my success. Fortunately, that was right up my alley too. Being surround by mentors who encouraged me to "be me" and just meet the students where they were was a God-send. So in many ways, it has been evident that God has his hands in this new adventure. I believe I am finally doing what I was created to do. There is not greater satisfaction than that and the reward is endless, even on the days that end with a headache or a heartache or the need for a bottle of wine.
Finally, being allowed to love others at a level I never quite imagined, on a daily basis, is overwhelming. It is a responsibility for which I feel inadequately prepared on many occasions. But to be empowered to affect the future directly through contact with the young people who I truly believe will run the world some day is a gift.
There is no more looking over my shoulder or wondering what all the closed-door meetings are about. There is no more stressing over being two hours behind on a project or two dollars over budget. There is no more waiting for an out-of-touch, uninformed, inept boss to ruin the day of my team by needling his or her way into a project when it is just too late for crap like that. There are no more texts from bosses at 6AM wondering where something is or catering to the ego of a self-important client.
There are stresses. They are different. I worry if my kids are safe on the weekends. Every time I hear that someone was shot or stabbed or run down by I car, my stomach sinks and I immediately pray that it was not one of MY kids. I stay up at night thinking about how we will get them through the next unit or through the week or how we will get them to college. I dream CONSTANTLY and wake up with seemingly impossible ideas and worry how I will make them happen. THE DIFFERENCE IS that my return on investment is LOVE AND MORE HUGS THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINE. In advertising, I never had a boss who appreciated me as much as the almost 200 teenage bosses I have now. And even on a day when a kid cusses my out, I know it is not me he is angry with, it is his mom who is not around, or in prison, or dead. And I can be ok with that.
While paying bills is impossible sometimes, I would not trade the money I made in advertising for the reward I receive daily as a teacher. The sweetest words I have ever heard? "I love you, Ms. Rausch."
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