abaya

Yes, I think this is great advice, Shesus. You are young enough to change careers without any major damage. For me, I taught high school English and History, basically for two years (including student teaching), and I got out of it quickly because I was hungry for intellectual stimulation at the PhD level. I guess I only became a teacher because it sounded cool, I loved my teachers, and my prospects for getting an editing job (as an English major) didn't pan out. None of that meant that I would be a good teacher. I did okay, but it exhausted me and I knew I wasn't above par as an instructor.

Now that I am in grad school, I still do some teaching for undergrad courses, but most of the time I do research and take interesting classes. I am mostly satisfied with where I am at... but once I get that doctorate, I'm going to have to decide whether I want to continue in education (a community college position sounds nice, since I don't feel thrilled about secondary school anymore, nor do I want to have pressure for publishing at the research level), or if I want to work for something like the Red Cross or the Census Bureau, etc. Personally, I think I'd rather take a semi-demanding desk job at one of the latter than go back to teaching... it just doesn't blow my skirt up like it used to, unfortunately.

Some people do worry about gaps in their resume and whatnot... I dunno, it depends on what you want to do. I doubt many companies look down too much on people changing jobs... it happens all the time. For me, I want a creative, demanding, yet structured job where I can travel a lot (gee, that all sounds like teaching, doesn't it?). Teaching aside, I'm convinced there *might* be something else out there for me, and I'm not afraid of taking risks to find those things... my happiness is at stake!

I encourage you to find what really makes you happy, despite the risks.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran