I left teaching for corporate world. Here's why I'm going back to the classroom.

Will you regret leaving teaching? Here's what I found

1. You can always change your mind; there is no wrong choice.
2. Listen to your heart and your emotions.

These are the two lessons I’ve learned this past year in my core, lessons I didn’t quite expect to come to fruition in the way that they did. But standing here over halfway through the year, I inhale deeply in the knowledge that these two mantras are true–and I share this in the hope that it will inspire you if you’re feeling stuck, trapped or fearful about your choices.

Two years ago, I made the difficult decision to leave the classroom. At the time, a new opportunity to write in a corporate setting came up, and it felt like the right decision. It felt like a new adventure. So, I took the leap. And for the past two years, I’ve learned about corporate world. I’ve grown. I’ve explored. I’ve had all sorts of new experiences and changed in a lot of great ways. But there was one major problem.

It didn’t feel like home. It didn’t feel right. And in my core, I kept thinking about how I’d left my one true calling.

Like so many of us do, I tried to rationalize it away. I told myself change was hard, that it would just take time to feel at home. I shoved down the voice of my five-year-old self who wanted nothing more than to teach, who would set up twenty stuffed animals on the steps of her childhood home with a chalkboard at the bottom. I told myself that the fact I was running into my former students literally EVERYWHERE wasn’t a sign–and wasn’t making me sad.

But deep down, I knew. The whole time, I think I knew that even though there were so many awesome perks in my new job and reasons to stay, it wasn’t what my heart wanted. So, after some re-evaluation and some soul-searching, I did what I needed to. I listened to my heart–and I turned back around. I changed my mind. And luckily, things fell into place to allow me to do a U-turn and go back to where I belonged, where I felt at home, and where my heart felt like I was meant to be.

This fall, I’m heading back to my alma mater to teach. This time around, I’ll be a business teacher, which feels like it was meant to be; it’s made the past two years in corporate world and also my accounting degree make sense. It’s made my time away feel like it was necessary for me to grow in order to do the best I can in this position. 

And you know what? Ever since I’ve made the decision to go back, I’ve exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding for two years. I don’t wake up in the middle of the night anymore in a panic that I left teaching. I feel awakened and excited in a way I haven’t for two years. My heart, in short, is happy, and I feel at peace again.

Making a change is scary but sometimes necessary. But I think the most beautiful thing about this life that we sometimes forget is that you’re never stuck, and no decision is final. You make the best decision you can with the information you have at the time. And then, you listen to your heart. You let your emotions guide you and you do the best you can again. You change your mind. You turn back or turn left or stand still for a bit until the path becomes clear. 

Because this life is too short to be somewhere that your heart isn’t happy. And I’m so excited that even though it’s been a long road these past two years, I’ve been reminded of what makes me happy, what makes me fulfilled, and where I belong. I’m fortunate and grateful to be given a second chance at my passion, at doing what I love. 

I’d like to think that five-year-old version of myself standing at her makeshift chalkboard would be excited that even though I veered off the path for a couple years, I found my way back to the front of the classroom where my heart knows I belong.

Lindsay Detwiler is the USA Today and International Bestselling author of The Widow Next Door, The Diary of a Serial Killer's Daughter and several other novels. To learn more, click here.

​