So, in response to a lot of different posts that got me thinking...

The first is the thread about losing weight not being the answer to all your problems. But, is that really the case? Does the journey to lose weight, and keep it off, really teach you about success and failure? About determination, inner strength, setting and meeting goals? Does it show you what you really want and what you're really capable of? Well, if you do it right, I think it does.

Reading about all of you, and getting inspired by all of your posts has made me re-evaluate a lot of what I want. I am on the verge of deciding to do what I really want to (read: I'm not doing anything, but I'm really thinking about it!). Dean's posts make me think a lot as well, and I'm working out what I do really want.

I find myself here at work researching camping in CT, thinking about getting away for a few days and really enjoying nature and solitude, or going with friends and actually spending time together instead of watching tv or a movie or getting drunk in a bar. This is a segue to other things I really want to do: hitchhike and camp across america (and maybe back through Canada), spend time on the water, back pack across europe... None of these things fit into the traditional 1-2 week vacations in corporate America.

So, back to what I'm always talking about; being a teacher. Summers off? Sign me up. And it's not just for that; I've tutored off and on since 1995 and I love the concept of teaching, especially Math. I also know I don't like working for money (and teaching solves that by paying peanuts!), but at least the variety of new classes and daily challenges would make it seem less predictable than any job I've held in IT (no matter what anyone says, you're pretty much dealing with some variation of a small set of issues daily).

Why this is scary...

Teachers don't make much money...
I would be taking a near 50% paycut when I can barely afford to live now. I need to pay off my debt (car included), and try to figure out how I can maintain something similar to my current standard of living, without actually having any money.

I need more school...
I have my BS in Liberal Studies; I created my own major as a combination of 3 minors: Computer Science, Math, and Business. I did this to finish quickly and because that is where my interests are. In order to teach Math, I need either a degree in education (pref. math education) to teach secondary, or my PhD to teach Uni (my ultimate goal). From speaking with the head of my math dept. at my previous school, both are actually preferred these days as theoretical mathmeticians can't teach.

This school is invasive...
Getting a degree in education requires student teaching. How do I balance this with a full-time job (obviously required to pay for said schooling)? This takes time, and though the best course would be a MS in Math Ed (or dbl MS, second in Math), this will require some pre-reqs as well as aforementioned student teaching.

I'm old already (read, this is scary)...
In all honesty, at 30, a 5+ - year plan to change careers is a little intimidating. At a time when I should be contemplating buying a home, being in a serious relationship, and how to spend that 6-figure income, I'm planning on scrapping a 16 year career for an entry-level position.

So, I'm considering this, and it's probably the best choice, but damn hard to commit to. And, making positive life changes over the past 6-months is what is helping me realize how important the work/life balance is to me, and how I have so many goals outside of, and more important than, my career. I define me, my job doesn't.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Was this way too much crap? (I think I'll post this on my blog too, but can't get there from work).

hey dave, i worked in the corporate world for 6 years in the internet industry before making the decision to become a teacher. my decision was slightly different than yours in that i quit my job when the internet bubble was in the midst of bursting and went travelling for a couple of years. when i came back to the US, i enrolled in an mba program, but dropped out twice. it's at that point i realized that i just had no desire AT ALL to work corporate jobs for the next 30 years.

i started substitute teaching just to make some money to live on. it only requires a bachelors degree to sub. all it is is glorified baby-sitting. so friggin' boring.... the substitute teaching led me to start researching full-time teaching possibilities. i also had the same reservations about the money, but the time off in the summers is extremely appealing. i also met a dude when playing WoW who was an English teacher in Korea. it's possible to make a very good living teaching English abroad. you can make loads more money teaching in Korea than you can here. to wrap this up, i just finished my masters in teaching in december and am currently finishing up another masters in language education right now.

it's possible to do the large large majority of this online through reputable universities. my masters in teaching came from Marshall University and my masters in language education will be from Indiana University. despite the online nature of these programs, i've learned plenty in both programs and no distinction is made between degrees earned by living on campus and those obtained primarily online. i'll be moving to korea in late july/early august to teach English.

the student teaching may be a problem. you won't be able to work full-time and do it. when i did mine, i was also taking two grad level courses. no joke: i was working 14-16 hours day. it was overwhelming, but i persevered. however, math and science teachers are really in demand in the US. you may be able to skirt some of the guidelines because you'd be a math teacher. each state has different rules. it can get quite confusing...

as far as the age thing goes, i'm 33 now....

fire me an e-mail if you'd like and i could probably give you more specific information if you'd like....

Here's a game plan A
1) don't own a house? Don't buy one. Rent something cheap and close to campus
2) Start saving a bit of money
3) When you've got a nice amount set aside, quit your job. Limit your income to something that pays very poorly for the next year or so (or under the table).
4) Apply for financial aid, and with no income, reap the rewards of free government money.
5) Go to school and be a poor college student. Ask yourself if it's worth it.

Game Plan B:
Find a sugar mamma who will support you through school

Game Plan C (and my personal favorite):
Get your employer to pay for your schooling. Take your time while working full time.

Fantastic insight Dave!! I'm really psyched for you.

Some of the old cliches are still true when you get to the heart of it:

'Where there is a will there is a way'

'If the dreams big enough, then the facts don't count'



No guts, no glory!! Thats living your passion in action!! Sometimes the right path is also the hardest.

I resonate totally with what you are saying Dave and I'm inspired by your dedication to continually raise your game. Good work squire!!

Brilliant. I will post an application on my blog...

Jokes aside, I'm an idiot. When I was young and stupid I sold my condo at a good time and could have executed Game Plan A with some success. I think disappointment over what I should have done also interferes with my thinking about this whole situation!

I got to get something like this working for me!!

Let me know which copy works best Dave

No problem! Time to put those SEO skills to work...

I'm thinking of focusing on equity.. With 40+ lbs down and 60 to go, it's like being near the end of a Bear market - prime investment time. Wait too long and I'll be priced out of their budget

Unfortunately I don't have any answers for you Dave BUT you are not alone. Although I am younger I have been processing that same thoughts you stated here. To be honest it was nice to see that i'm not alone. It's so hard when our world today doesn't really support people wanting to work and go to school or people that want to work but also travel. Although younger, my biggest hold up is that I can't quit my job. I need the health benefits. If my insurance lapses I wont be covered again by most companies for the rest of my life.. talk about pressure lol.

Although I don't have answers for you, feel free to message me any time if you want to talk and vent more about the situation. It's frustrating and I really hope you can find a way to chase your dreams. You deserve to be happy! I guess the best thing I could offer is to keep on truckin' , don't believe in failure. Believe that you have acheived this and that you CAN do this and the rest will start to fall into place.

Best of luck and keep us updated on this new journey of yours!

I blew a full-ride scholarship and got pregnant. Beat that!

The good news is it's never too late. I'm 5 years older than you are, so don't tell me you're too old! When you think about it, how many things are there that you can't do at your age that you could do 10 years ago? So maybe being a NFL pro is out of the picture, but that wasn't your plan anyway, right?

You have a lot of options right now, partially because you don't have the house and family. I have those, and they complicate things even more, but I am still devising my own game plan. I'm tired of living the "should" life.

Figuring it all out isn't easy, but it is doable! Ten years from now, you can have more regret and always wonder what could have been, or you can say you tried.

That's exactly it. I would regret doing nothing SO MUCH MORE than failing. I don't, however, think I would fail. I'm mostly worried about the inconvenience of getting what I really want. Guess that sounds pretty silly, too, but I'm so used to living in the moment; maybe eeking out whatever fun I can for the rest of my life is easier than working hard for a (relatively) short period of time for what I really want.

Age is a state of mind. I am a few years older than you but recently started my Master's of Nursing (online as the other Dave previously discussed). A big life change is difficult at anytime. You have to weigh the pros and cons but staying longterm in a less than your ideal work situation will surface again (if you ignore it this time).

What have you got to lose? Your comfort level is probably the biggest thing - any change brings with it uncertainity. But sometimes we have to take a leap of faith and forget the security blanket.

Happiness versus fear of the unknown. What is the worse thing that can happen? You have to give up and go look for another IT job?

I'd loved to move - but my husband does not. He work away from home 6 months of the year - does it really make a difference where he live? (Well the six month he live home it does as he work out of where we live now). My life would be so much easier in some ways if I moved to a community 200 Km away but I would also be moving away from my parents and inlaws (I have a 10 year old).

Change is never an easy decision and it requires that the right amount of thought be put into the decision. But in the long run you are the only one who can answer your own question and probably the biggest part of that question is - is the change worth the risk? In relation to my own change - I change my mind on it everyday. In my case when my child graduates from Grade 6 (June 2009) she has to change schools anyway so currently that is my target for making my decision!

Good luck - no one said it was going to be an easy decision!

Hey Dave,
Life is way too short to do what you don't want to do....... Corporate America has a terrible work ethic with very little priority given to family, rest, and recreation.

My husband was working at a law firm and hated it!!!! He started on his "becoming a teacher" journey when he was 40. He subbed and went to school. He got several "long term substitute assignments" in there which helped a lot!! We just bit the bullet, got loans, and made it through. Now we have a wonderful life...... I teach also, and we are so there for our kids. We have the same vacations, days off, etc.

GO FOR IT!!! you will never regret it!!!

I had the reverse experience -- I was a grad student/teacher until I was 30, then joined corporate America because I was worried about my future.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have worried as much.

I've taught impoverished 6th graders in the Philippines, fairly wealthy kids in a private Jesuit college, and American college kids in Philadelphia. It can really be quite rewarding and I miss it a lot.

Teaching abroad can be quite an experience, especially in countries where faculty form a very tight community. Your fellow teachers essentially become your extended family and it's a wonderful feeling.

My dream is to one day go back to teaching and retire to Japan. Now I need to figure out how to get there...

I don't know if I don't spend enough time worrying about my future or if I have the right idea I imagine if I'm teaching, that's pretty much something I could do about until I die though, so I'm not really focused on a retirement per se... (though the idea of social security is pretty much nothing, and my corporate america job has a pension...)

Thanks for all the responses, I'm tentatively putting this into my "plan", and once I get a total handle on finances, an MA in education is going to become a priority... I'm concerned about getting the certification because of the student teaching, but perhaps I could start at a community college or something like that.

my advice-find out if teaching is what you definitely want-go observe in the classroom before making any decisions. this is not at all to discourage you but i thought teaching was for me and went back for my masters later in life and found out teaching wasnt for me. i wish somebody had told me before i went back to school to go observe classrooms first and talk to as many principals, teachers etc. if you can, go back to your old high school, middle school etc. and just sit in the back of the room and watch what goes on.

by the way, im 5 years older than you and going back for my 3rd degree in sept. it isnt easy but it is worth doing to be happier with myself.

So true THE NEW ME.. make sure it's what you really want. I love the idea of some things, but when I actually get involved I find it's not something I could sustain on a day-to-day basis.

And, I hate to say it, but quality of living isn't something that's easy to give up. You can simplify your life and live on less, definitely, but is it something you really want to do forever? If you can save more money so that you're living like you would on a teacher's salary, and not miss it... you see what I'm getting at.

Oh, and let me know how the Sugar Mamma search pans out.
Some of my hubby's car friends have them, and it's just disgusting how these guys can get away with wasting sooooo much money.

Not only I have no good answers/suggestions to you, I feel shame myself that I don’t have the big heart and dedication like you, Dave.

30 something is still young, Dave! Tina Tuner sung and poor for years. She became famous with the 1st hit at age 50. ‘When there is a will, there is a way.”

Money does not matter.
Age does not matter.

If you do something you love, you never work a day in your life.

I've talked to someone about sitting in on their classes, and perhaps one of the math teachers at that school, as well as getting a chance to have a discussion with the principal. This will be very helpful I think...



This is about priorities. If it is your only priority to enjoy what you do for a living, this is true. Unfortunately I have a quality of life that it is a priority to continue, with the financial freedom to have more than what I simply need.

Also, age is important. I don't know if I want kids, but there are certain factors that will help with that. I don't want to be a 60yr old man trying to find a fertile woman to mate with should that suddenly become a priority - I'm not the kind of guy to settle. Opportunity decreases with age. I'm not saying that things become impossible, but you do things like accrue wealth through posessions and positions, and if you constantly change those then you are eventually still starting over when you might like to retire. I can't count on social security. There's only one person I know that I would marry unquestionably anytime between now and the day I die, and I don't expect those kinds of people are easy to come by, so that is a concern for me as well. There are certain aspects of my future and possible goals of which I am not yet aware.

This is all still on the short list, but I still have things to prioritize. At the very least, should I get a ms in education through an online uni, my company will pay for the majority of it and I will be that much better off. That, with the combined goal of paying off my debts and having liquid equity, will help in any situation.

Oh, Powerball, where art thou?

Game Plan 3, yay!