I let my teaching license expire after years of hard work. I didn't expect to feel so free.

A chronic illness forced me to leave my teaching job. It took years for me to earn my credentials, and allowing them to expire weighed heavily on me. Letting my license expire has been surprisingly freeing. Now I can fully focus on my next move. I left the classroom a couple of years ago. I told myself it was for good, but my husband made me promise him that I was really done. In return, I asked him not to let me go back if I ever tried to again. Deep down, I can still sense my love of teaching, and since my husband knows me well, these are promises I know we'll both keep. I knew my professional teaching certificate was going to expire this summer, and I went back and forth about whether or not I should go to the trouble of renewing it. In an extreme act of setting boundaries, I decided to let it go — on purpose. I was worried I would regret it, but now I'm glad I let it expire.

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