John H. Hithcock says “I am a teacher. Always have been, always wanted to be…

My plan had been to teach as long as I had good health and the morning excitement was still there to get up and go meet those kids.

Like most of us, I always thought I’d be the one who determined when and how I’d retire.

Life has a way of intervening, though, and now I’m not so sure that any of us really are in charge of the future. If you read scripture or even live a normal life, you know that the future doesn’t bend to our will or even our hopes.

About two months ago I received the dreaded “pink slip” indicting that I was nearly low man on the teaching totem pole, and would likely face the unemployment line after June 17, the last day of school this year.

Back to the Drawing Board

Somehow, after forty-five years of teaching, I never for a moment thought my resume would become important again, and would become attached to the hopefully appealing inquiry letter. Such was the case, however, and I had flashbacks to those immediate post college years as job searching was a normal part of growing up.

My seniority was the inverse of my “senior-ness” since we’d just moved to be close to our daughter and her family, so my time in the public school district was less than one year. An obvious candidate for being shown the door, I tried to appear rather “in charge” of my emotions, but honestly, inside I was a wreck.

Even in my self-pity, I couldn’t help but have great empathy for the brand new teacher who had just finished college, stressed out on the CBEST exam, and was now being told the career they’d prepared for was being put on hold or perhaps even ended.

My search for teaching jobs in our area ended quickly, as the realization surfaced that every district was in the same situation. There was one job I found in South Dakota… but that’s a bit far from sunny southern California and our two, soon to be three, wonderful grandaughters.

The New Picture Emerges

Fortunately, two coincidental passions in my life began to merge into a possible replacement for the classroom endeavors.

After golf, my recreational and fulfilling passion is writing, and a couple of years ago I had written a book, “Radical Excellence,” that was more-or-less a professional autobiography. Then recently I’d been developing a website to share many of my experiences and thoughts about the teaching and learning process.

As part of that process I had also been writing a series of ebooks about teaching and learning in today’s society, and also one about the relationship between playing good golf and leading a good life.

I’m no expert on web-business development, but I had learned enough to know that “getting rich quickly” wasn’t part of the equation, but it was within the realm of possibility to build a business that was profitable over a period of six months or so.

Taking Real Action Steps

My pay from teaching would take us through the summer, and I already had a signed contract teaching as an adjunct professor at a university, so it seemed that I’d be able to last for the six months without having to hold a cardboard sign on a freeway exit.

So as part of the transition, my website and writing efforts have increased along with doing some freelance copywritng for a company.

Two things have happened that are both positive.

* By TAKING ACTION I’ve started the process of generating a continuing income.
* By TAKING ACTION my spirits have been re-energized and the actual activity has given me a genuine hope about the future.

Certainly an Internet business is a realistic plan, but it doesn’t have to be the best one for you.

What is necessary, however, is that you don’t just sit there wallowing in remorse. Do SOMETHING… it might not be the best thing, but soon it will be.

Don’t ever give up. Never. Soon, you will emerge stronger, a survivor.”

John Hitchcock is enthusiastically involved in his forty-fifth year in classrooms, both in New York State and California. Read more about his personal and corporate mission to raise the “learning level” of students to a point of Radical Excellence by returning to the use of Traditional Values. Discover practical methods for doing this at http://education-for-excellence.com

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