Career Breaks

It was never my intention to be pregnant while unemployed: in the grand Master Plan, it wasn’t really meant to go this way. Nevertheless, while it’s nobody’s business, this baby is very much planned. In the Master Plan I was going to finish my teaching degree, begin my probation year and tentatively try for a baby that would arrive that Summer. I’d have saved, we would have been entitled to some Maternity Allowance and when I felt ready to go back to work I could take supply jobs until I found my permanent post. It didn’t go like that…

 

My whole plan went out the window for a number of reasons and some of them I still find difficult to come to terms with. For one, I finished my course without my teaching qualification: I was supposed to go back to resit that final placement when my mental health decided otherwise. That whole experience -trying to achieve something I’d worked my butt off to achieve and then not getting there- was quite damaging and I’m still working through that. The career plan went on hold, but my life plan didn’t. We’ve not got the job, but we do have the baby arriving in the Summer.

 

What does that mean for us? Well, for the very first time, I’m the unemployed person in our duo. For the first time, I ticked the ‘homemaker’ box on a form – I never thought I’d do that. I’ve worked part-time jobs from the age of 17 while I studied at college and then at University for my undergraduate. In that time, Jamie went through periods of unemployment and they were tough, but we managed. I’ve never been financially dependent as an adult, so this new phase of our relationship has taken some adjusting to.

 

Had all gone well, I’d have finished my repeat teaching placement in the September. Instead, I decided to take some time to work on me and get my anxiety under control alongside a vitamin deficiency that my Doctor felt was making my mental health worse. If I’m being honest, we never thought we’d be quick to conceive: we had both said we would give it until Christmas and if nothing happened, I’d get a new job and we’d put the baby plans on hold for a little while. Little did we know that we’d be blessed on our first try.

 

Since then lots of people have asked what the plan is: will you go back to teaching? Will you go back to work soon or will you stay at home for a while? What will you do for childcare? Will you go full time or part-time? Will you use your degree in the job you’re looking for? What job are you hoping to get?

 

To some of these questions my answer is quite literally: I don’t know. The Master Plan has failed and, in all honesty, I don’t think teaching is the right path for me right now. Maybe when I’m older and a bit wiser but for now it’s not worked out. That’s difficult news to share with people who obviously want the best for me and don’t want to see my work ‘wasted’ but it’s a very personal, very difficult choice to make. For now the plan is to bring a new human into this world and spend the first year learning to be a parent. It’s a fresh challenge – and I’ve heard the pay is pretty rubbish – but this is our new priority. We’ll come up with a new Master Plan later.