I loved my students. I loved summer and lesson plans and the kid who finally understood supply and demand. I did not love the district politics, the unpaid hours, or the feeling that I was running a banquet on a snack budget.
Accounting offered rules I could learn, puzzles I could solve, and a paycheck that did not depend on whether teenagers remembered homework. I was good at it because teaching taught me to explain hard things simply—a skill undervalued in every industry.
I still teach, just differently. Now my classroom is a dinner table or a blog post. The subject rotates. The patience remains.
Careers are not straight lines. They are tasting menus. Some courses you send back. Some you request again for life.