Although this is hard for me to believe now, becoming a teacher was not something I thought about until around 4 1/2 years ago. I have been a very compassionate, empathetic, and emotional person since I was a young toddler. I am the kind of person who can cry during commercials and who cries during movies and TV shows that are even remotely sad, who feels like my heart is breaking when I see people out in public even if there is no explicable reason why this should be happening, who donates to children’s charity organizations every time I am asked no matter how much money I have, and so much more. When it came time for me to pick the courses in high school that would shape my postsecondary options for college and university, I felt like it would be the perfect fit to go into nursing. I thought it would be good to have a profession where it would be acceptable to channel and fully display empathy and compassion and to be emotional to an extent. When I got into the program, it didn’t take me long before I realized I had made a big mistake. When I went to the clinical practicums, I was constantly feeling overwhelmingly sad for the people who were in the hospital and extremely upset with myself for not being able to do more to help them. When I left, I could not shut my brain off from the experiences and I would come home constantly thinking about the people I had cared for and met that day. I would cry in the shower for a prolonged period of time because I could not disconnect my work life from my home life and I would dread having to go back every Monday morning. I quickly realized that there was no realistic reason for continuing down this path because it would cause me to burn out very quickly in the profession or even before I could finish my entire degree. I needed a change, but now what? I didn’t want to fail a second time so I had to be sure that my next decision was the right one and the best one for me.
This is where teaching and the education program came into the picture. I have loved babies, toddlers, and children since I was a child myself. I was the child that was left alone in a camping trailer to feed and change a newborn baby at 10 years old, the person that was trusted as the adult figure in my teenage years to take 6 kids under the age of 5 swimming in the lake without anyone, including myself, feeling stressed or overwhelmed about it, the one who volunteered to coach curling and help at a Kindergarten Health Circuit, and so much more. When I looked back on all the experiences I have had with children in my life and how they all had made me feel, I was stunned that I had never thought of the education program before. It seemed so straightforward and easy for me to make this decision at that point of time I was at in my life. I am a huge believer in God’s timing and the fact that everything happens for a reason so maybe that decision felt easy because it was exactly where I was meant to be at exactly the right time. Whatever the reason, I am grateful that my decisions have landed me here because since I started this program, I have had no doubt that I am with the people I’m supposed to be with, I belong, and there is no place I would rather be.
