The last several years – decades, perhaps – have been fulfilling as you watched your students grow in ways you expected as well as in ways you didn’t. Although it has not been easy, being a teacher has definitely been worth the challenges that you have had to overcome. However, you are starting to wonder if it is time to move on to the next phase of your life. If any of these 5 sentiments ring true, it might be time to retire from teaching.
You No Longer Look Forward to Teaching
Athletes and coaches of sports teams say it all the time: “The day I don’t feel like going to the gym (or field) is the day that I hang it up.” The same applies to teaching. If you no longer look forward to working with your students, you should consider retiring. This is not having the temporary blues as that is something that you have most likely experienced from time to time throughout your career. In this case, you cannot remember when you last looked forward to teaching.
Retirement is All You Can Think About
Maybe you still enjoy coming to work every day, but your thoughts are increasingly being filled with visions of you enjoying your retirement days, whether they are spent mostly in the house you have lived in for decades or on a beach somewhere. Perhaps a student has a question, and you have to jerk yourself away from your daydream, which has you pleasantly laid out on a beach, and refocus your mind on what she said. Perhaps you should make that a reality.
You Are Ready
Are you mentally ready for the drastic change that will come to your life once you retire from teaching? If you are simply retiring from this profession and joining another, the significant change of pace involved with doing so is still going to be enough to cause natural stress. Conversely, if you are retiring from full-time work entirely, be prepared to possibly having a decreased social life and less structure to your day-to-day life. Of course, you can still be very social and have plenty of structure; you will just have to work at it a bit more once you are retired.
This is Not Something a Vacation Could Cure
If you are feeling many of the symptoms of burnout, such as physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, detachment and feelings of ineffectiveness, perhaps a vacation or even a sabbatical would allow you to re-energize yourself for several more years of teaching. Although one can sometimes come out of retirement and return to teaching, you should view retirement as a permanent decision.
The Finances Make Sense
This will vary quite a bit from state to state, but it may make sense to retire in the near future from a financial standpoint. When will you receive social security benefits? Will the income that you receive from a pension plan during retirement increase by a significant amount if you teach another few years, or will the monetary change be nominal? How will retirement affect your 403(b) or 457(b) plans? If you are unsure about how retirement will affect you financially, make sure to contact a professional well versed in these things so that you be as comfortable in retirement as possible. If possible, talk to a retirement counselor roughly five years before you plan to retire.
Although retiring from teaching will be one of your life’s major events, doing so does not mean that you need to never teach again. Many former full-time teachers later return to teach on a part-time basis, a move that ensures that burnout is much less likely to occur. Conversely, others simply move on to the next phase of their life and find fulfillment focusing on other things.
