Hello bucket list friends! In my blog post Adventures in Unemployment I wrote about how life is good at throwing problems your way without notice. One of the biggest curve balls that ever came my way was when I realized that I was not going to stay a preschool teacher until retirement like I had originally planned to do. I decided in high school that I was going to be a preschool teacher. I loved babysitting and working at summer day camps, when I was working with kids I felt like I was not working. I loved being able to put a smile on the faces of the children and I loved the countless smiles that they put on my face. When I finally reached my dream of being a preschool teacher I was so proud of myself but I had no idea that my dream was not going to turn out the way I thought it would. I didn’t realize everything that was expected of preschool teachers now don’t get me wrong I knew that being a teacher was a lot of hard work but there was a lot about being a teacher that I didn’t know like California’s 1 to 12 ratio even for two year olds well they probably did teach us that in class but you think that you would have an aid with that many children but often times I was by myself. There was also a lot of pressure to be very academic with children parents were complaining that I was not teaching enough academics to their 3 and 4 year old children. Even with all that the hardest part was the behavior problems in some of the children after a while you get really tired of being hit, bit, scratched and cursed at by small children. I worked at three preschools and I met some really great people including my students. I learned so much myself and I hope the children I thought were able to learn a lot from me. Last year I started having chest pains that would sometime go into my arm I even went to the doctor and my heart was fine but I couldn’t ignore the toll that this high stress job was taking on my physical and mental health. I knew I had to make a career change I could not continue to be in such a stressful environment every day. I have had an interest in massage therapy for quite a while now. I have always considered it my back up career so I’m happy to announce that I’m going to school for a one year program for massage therapy. I’m very excited to start this next chapter but I know between work and school I will be very busy and I won’t have a lot of time to cross of list items. I’m glad that this program is just a yearlong so hopefully before I know it I will be crossing off tons of items again. I have some items that I will be crossing off in December and I will continue to blog. I’m very excited to be able to share this adventure with all of you.
Rock on – Christina Epperly 
