This morning, I woke up, stared at the heap of scripts before me and wondered why I got myself into teaching.

Growing up, I only ever wanted to become a journalist. Since I was 14, I already knew I wanted a degree in Mass Communications so for the next 8 years, I kept my focus and worked extremely hard to achieve my goal. I was completely on track, until I realised that my fickle-minded self would not contend with a simple journalism major, and that I didn’t need to major in it to be a journalist. So I diversified. I settled on Public Relations and Media & Communication at uni and gave myself some business and marketing perspective.

Upon graduation, I wanted to gain some experience before diving into full-time journalism. I believed it was important to gain an in-depth knowledge about the various industries first before writing about it. I applied for several PR and Events Marketing positions and within a couple of months, I got my foot into the world of fashion & lifestyle.

It was a great platform for me as I had to constantly juggle several clients at a time, learning how to deal with the nuances of each industry. I won’t tell you what they are specifically, but know that some take pride in name-dropping, and appropriate responses include looking at them in awe. They love it.

Tired of all the schmoozing, I decided less than 6 months into the job, that I wasn’t cut out for this. I’d considered going back to my first love – journalism – but realised that it would be more or less the same thing, only this time, I’ll be on the other side of the fence. So I prayed, re-assessed my life and learnt that I’d only be satisfied if I were doing something more meaningful.

I didn’t get into teaching immediately. In fact, it took a couple of failed applications before I understood that I had to have a go at relief teaching first, before finalising my plans. What happened after that was clearly God’s answer to my prayer. I was given a six-month relief teaching stint that wasn’t like what most relief teachers had to do. I had to take over a teacher’s full workload and teach all her classes. I was thrown into the deep end of the ocean, but it was also a great learning experience for me. In fact, this stint quashed all doubts. I knew I was ready to teach. So with confidence, I submitted my application one last time.

Despite having many moments like what I experienced this morning, I have not once regretted my decision to become an educator. Yes, the workload is a total pain in the ass, I hardly have time to hang out with my friends, and the kids occasionally make me wonder why I even bother, but the fundamental idealisms pertaining to teaching has kept me going every single day. If I didn’t believe I can help these kids to find their purpose, I wouldn’t be able to haul my ass out of bed at 5:30 every morning, and still go into work feeling optimistic.