chasing my dreams Vs Getting A business up & Running – can I have both?
I have been thinking about leaving teaching for 5 years. During those 5 years 2020-2025 time I have gone through the most stressful and difficult times in my life ….more of that later. In this blog I am going to document the ups and downs of chasing all my dreams!
I finally left a couple of weeks ago in July 2025. I had spent 22 years in mainstream teaching and latterly 3 years in alternative provision.
I had said to myself that I would leave teaching by 2023. Before that however, a job came up in alternative provision. I think it is very common for teachers to change schools when they are finding that the job is not as fun, exciting and fulfilling as it once was. I had a fantastic time in the alternative provision job and made a real difference whilst I was there.
But it became clear that the world of education’s values had seismically shifted in 25 years, away from my core values of kindness, truth, integrity, courage and innovation. It was hard to come to terms with that – and has taken over a year of realisation. This non-alignment along with bereavements and family challenges led me to be depleted and burnt out.
I want the last 20 years of my working life to be working in alignment with my core values.
This time last year, I decided that I would give teaching one more year, with the caveat that I would financially plan to leave and would resign by March 2025 if I knew it wasn’t working.
By the end of the Autumn Term 2024, it became abundantly clear that this needed to be my last year of teaching.
Planning a new adventure
It is not long until my 50th Birthday. Being 50 does not bother me, but being intentional about how I spend the next 20 years of my life does. I have been exploring different options and reading different books. However it was the book “Be a Free Range Human” by Marianne Cantwell that gave me permission to start dreaming.
The book has lots of activities and exercises to complete. Being able to dream about what I would do if there were no barriers at all, was completely liberating. I realised that because I had been so focused on a particular career path (more of that later) as a child I never really dreamed about what I wanted to do and what made me truly happy.
So, I have given myself the gift of time (about a year) to explore these dreams.
One of my dreams is to see and film every species of butterfly in the UK and post the videos on my YouTube Channel – I have made a good start with this.
https://www.youtube.com/@DoctorMelissaPalmer
I also want to start my own business that connects people with nature – to improve the wellbeing of people & nature. I have a myriad of ideas about this and also want to as an aside help support teachers. I have a wealth of expertise in a number of areas.
My biggest struggle at the moment is giving myself time to slow my pace & brain down (I have been working a million miles an hour, hyperstressed and frenetic for 25 years). This has given me a feeling of overwhelm. But also take small steps towards each of these dreams.
I am aware that I am very task orientated – it has taken over two weeks to slow my brain down to just very busy. But I also do not want to waste time when I could be moving forward with my dream chasing. This is my real struggle. What do I do with my time?
Do I focus on my big crazy dreams that I know will bring me the most joy?
Or
Do I focus on building my nature & wellbeing focused business?
I have at the moment – mainly to stop tormenting myself with this dichotomy dedicated roughly two days a week to each focus.