The first response I get when I say I'm a teacher is "you're a teacher? What grade?"

I am 27 and just "switched" careers from working at a major bank to working at an adult basic education center teaching English as a Second Language. It has been a dream of mine ever since I first volunteered in college back in 2011.

After college, I volunteered when I had time after work, pursued a certificate and now, I am pursuing my Master's degree. I will be finished this fall 2017.

One thing that absolutely drives me nuts is when people say I'm not a real teacher and people only pursue this field only if they are older or retired. I've read a lot of blogs that say ESL teachers don't take their jobs seriously and do it only to travel.

For the past five years, I've been dying to leave my old job and pursue this path. I finally have it and love what I do, but it's hard to stay positive when 1) people don't respect what I do 2) believe ESL teachers are a joke because we don't teach K12.

Now.. I don't make a lot, but I knew that already. Sometimes it's tough to NOT compare my income with someone who works in finance, business or medicine. It was hard to date someone a while ago because he worked in his field right after college and made a lot of $$$ and I worked at the bank with small income. 😔 I never told him how I felt but I carried it with me at times.

Adult ESL only offers PT gigs and I've had to take on another teaching role as an EL teacher at a K8 immersion school. It works out and I like my schedule. Right now, I'm just worried because in my 30s, I would like to find some stability with income and a full time job. The only way for me to that at the moment is work abroad at an international school or university. My Master's will help me work at community colleges in the US but only offer per credit hour, and I'd have to take on multiple classes as an adjunct instructor to make a living. Doable but maybe after I've gone abroad.

In the past week, I've been thinking a lot about my future. Teaching is wonderful and I finally have my own classroom. My students are great and I have a couple professors whom I idolize because of their tenacity, persistence and confidence. My favorite area is pronunciation and one of my professors helped me find that because I saw the importance of it when I began teaching.

Have you ever felt discouraged? Are you a teacher too? Am I panicking for no reason? Have you ever compared yourself with others?